Time Menders and the Four Crystals
by herrior
Summary: Ten fighters have taken on a pact to retrieve four stolen crystals from the magical village Tranquil. The crystals have the ability to go back in time and alter the future. They must go through time and to different worlds to find the traitors who stole the crystals and rescue heroes from the past. Based on the Time Stoppers characters.
1. Chapter 1

Prelude

The year currently is twenty-thirteen. Ten fighters have taken on a pact to retrieve four stolen crystals from a magical village called Tranquil. The crystals were stolen and contain enormous power. Given very little information to go on, the party uses their intuition and any leads to track them down. The crystals contain the power to move through time and alter it to their will. With such power, their enemies can obliterate entire races and rewrite history of not only Earth but of many other worlds as well.

The ten fighters came from different worlds and came together to first find time stoppers. Now with the knowledge that time itself is being altered, they venture off in time to find clues and to try not to alter history.

Herrior, a tauren warrior who commands the battlefield, leads the party.

His wife's name is Skyka, who is a blood elf priest, who can heal anybody in need and can even reverse death.

Jacklyn is second in charge as she yields two enormous swords and is a hybrid human.

Quinely is a druid and can take on the form of animals. She has the power to command her enemies to attack her in battle as a bear, shred her animals to pieces as a lion or heal allies as well.

Trackolania is a small hobbit and specializations in the abilities of a rogue. His daggers are laced with the poisons that he makes, also has the ability to move in and out of sight at will. His ability to pick-pocket, pick locks, detect traps and assassinate are unmatched.

Mohania is an undead warlock. His appearance is that of a skeleton walking around with only his robes to cover him. With the abilities to summon powerful demons and spells, his cockiness and rituals of the undead make him stand out. Formed from the very enemies that they battle, his life was torn from him and was left as an undead to serve them. He escaped their grasps only to live a life of isolation for hundreds of years until he befriended Herrior's party.

Lindel, like Mohania, had her life stolen from her at a young age of seventeen. She was sacrificed and brought back to life as a banshee to serve her masters. She, too, broke free of her masters and befriended Herrior's party. She has the powers to drain life, heal wounds, energize fighters in combat with power, vanish in plain sight and possess people – either to extract information, cause pain, death, or heal inner wounds. She takes on her previous human form of an innocent but very attractive seventeen year old. Her exact age is unknown. Lindel is different from the others and has the ability to create portals to different worlds and periods of time. Lindel also possess the ability to read people's thoughts in a limited degree.

Julie is from Earth. Recruited to track down time stoppers, she became a hunter with the power to command animals to do her bidding. With her best "friend" Spark, her Saint Bernard from her home she is able to use her gun to shoot at multiple enemies at the same time or charge it up to shoot powerful bullets. Her magical gun, forged in Tranquil, requires no ammunition to fire because it automatically recharges bullets. Her age is twenty eight.

Veliline was found in a deserted world filled with hundreds of years of battles fought. She, a death knight, abandoned her group that fought in the great wars and flew away. She hid while her master and the other death knights fought each other to extinction. Found by Herrior one day buy a hunch, she still felt control from her master but was able to break from his voice in her head and free herself once and for all. Her powers command a series of runes from which she must balance in a battle to lay down heavy damage. She can also take command of a battle and taunt the enemies to attack her. Her powers are both magical and physical depending on which runes she wishes to use in her mind to attack a person or persons.

Dan is also from Earth. The boy was found fresh out of high school and tracked by Herrior and his party. His previous ability to stop time eventually exceeded that of any other time stopper. Originally a fighter, he became a shaman and obtained command over the elements. He fights with two spikes as fist weapons while calling upon the very elements around him to protect him in combat as well as unleash a fury of devastating blows to his enemies. Communing with the elements he is able to detect enemies from far away or hear their stories of what has happened to the lands. He was the king of Tranquil and married to his wife of several years when he one fateful night she died in her sleep. An angel appeared to comfort him as they received their new orders for their new mission.

With their new instructions and coordinates in hand they set off to their first destination. Not known to them what it was they were looking for, they stepped through the portal created from Tranquil and arrived on Earth in the year 525 AD.


	2. Time Menders

Time Menders

The party arrived through Lindel's portal in an open grass field. A small number of trees were placed throughout the field but not enough to cover their entrance. Herrior's party quickly looked around to make sure nobody else arrived.

"Is this the right time?" Herrior asked.

"It's the right time…not the right place though." Lindel remarked.

"Quinely take to the sky and let me know what you see." Herrior said. Quinely morphed into a bird and flew high into the air.

"I'm not sensing any people in the area." Lindel said.

"The air smells so fresh and real…look at this place!" Dan said taking it all in.

"Different is for sure, anybody sensing any evil?" Herrior asked looking around cautiously.

"Nothing…should we split up?" Jacklyn asked.

"Maybe – this isn't promising so far. What are we looking for exactly Dan?" Herrior asked.

"Something powerful, it should be very obvious when we see it. The people around should notice something different. Mohania are you sensing any demons?" Dan asked.

"Lot of people talking…not a lot of answers, I think we have the wrong place." Mohania said reaching his skeleton hand down and gently touching a blade of grass then watched it catch fire.

"Incoming stage coach!" Quinely yelled down from the air. They all quickly activated their trinkets that were infused in their heads to blend in with the people of the local area and time. Quinely stayed in the air.

"Little revealing Lindel?" Herrior asked Lindel.

"What? If you got the goods you should show them off…" Lindel smirked. Her outfit revealed most of her cleavage pressed together and raised up to almost her shoulders. Herrior just sighed and turned his head towards the faint noise.

"They are shaking up the ground really good…must be in a hurry." Dan said knelt down with his hand on the ground.

"How many are there?" Herrior asked. The question more specifically was "If we had to fight them, how many would we have to kill" but Herrior's party knew what he meant.

"Too far to tell…" Lindel replied back. She outstretched her arm and increased her power as she focus on the incoming coach.

"There's a trail to your west. It looks like they are going to come up that way." Quinely yelled down from the air.

"Let's move" said Herrior.

They all walked to the west and found the trail Quinely was talking about. It looked well worn and seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see in both directions.

"Six of them, one is asleep. I can't read his mind but I'm almost positive there are six of them – they are in a hurry for some reason." Lindel said.

"We'll wait for them then" Herrior said and they spread out to make it look like they were just doing things casually.

The stage coach came closer and it was clear on their faces that they were scared of something…or something was very wrong. Herrior casually turned to face them and extended his hand outward in a friendly gesture and smiled at them. The driver slammed on the brakes and stopped the horses as quickly as he could.

"What are you stopping for?" A man stuck his head out of coach's window yelling at the driver. He then turned to look at Herrior's party.

"Didn't mean no harm, just extending a friendly gesture is all." Herrior said. A woman screamed loudly from the coach and then the sounds of somebody trying to muffle her sounds could be heard.

"There something wrong? We might be able to help. My wife is a doctor." Herrior said slowly and clearly pointing to his wife.

"Sir we are never going to make town! She will die!" The driver yelled down at the man.

"We would make it to town if you would have kept going!" The man said and suddenly the woman frantically yelled "There's something wrong…" over and over.

"I don't mean to overstep my bounds but if you are harming that woman in any way, I will break every bone in your…" Herrior was interrupted as he made large fists and approached the coach.

"My daughter is pregnant and won't give birth! She isn't married so she'll be arrested for it…but…" the man said with clear uncertainty in his voice. It was clear he didn't know what to do.

"Sir I am a doctor. If your daughter says there is something wrong with her delivering that baby and she's in that much pain then her being arrested should be the least of your worries. Now…unlock that coach and let me in there!" Skyka said firmly walking up to him.

"We need to get into hiding…she can't deliver it here!" The driver said.

"Pull off the road then!" The father yelled to him.

"What good is that going to do – I could hear her screaming from nearly a mile away." Lindel said.

"Fine…" the aggravated father said and unlocked the door as the driver locked the brakes on the coach. Skyka hopped in quickly and said "Make some room! You two – get out! I need her lying down.

"But I'm her…"

"Get out or she will die!" Skyka screamed in the young man's face. The two men ran out of the coach quickly as Skyka gently moved her onto her back with her legs spread apart.

"When did the bleeding start?" Skyka asked ripping off several strips of her dress to make make-shift bandages.

"She's bleeding? Nobody told me she was bleeding? Why is she bleeding?" The father asked.

"About three hours ago" a woman about the same age as the man said.

"How far apart are the contractions and has she dilated any?" Skyka asked as she pulled off the young girl's blouse.

"What are you doing? What is she doing? What are contractions?" The father asked desperately.

"I want him out!" Skyka said in a sharp tone and point towards the door.

"But I'm her…"

"You'll be the death of her if you don't shut up and leave! I need facts – not questions!" Skyka spun around and yelled in his face. His wife squeezed his hand and motioned for him to leave. Under protest he left.

"What's her name?" Skyka asked.

"My name or my baby's name?" The young lady asked.

"Good you can understand me. Your mother I believe it is told me you have been bleeding for three hours, is this true?" Skyka asked as she got done making a make-shift pillow and put her head on it.

"Off and on for about a week…" the young lady said and then let out a loud scream as a hard contraction hit. Skyka reached out and grabbed her hand and the young lady squeezed it very hard. Twenty seconds passed and then the woman was gasping for breath.

"Now if you want to live you are going to do exactly what I say, do you understand me?" Skyka asked looking directly into the young woman's eyes. She nodded.

"First of all relax. Your mind is fighting your body and your body will win if we can't get both to work together. Take short quick breaths. Relax all of your muscles now. Focus on taking short deep breaths. You are going to feel me examining your stomach and between your legs, don't be alarmed ok?" Skyka asked in a calm voice.

"What can we do?" Her mother asked.

"I need some sterile cloth. Start a fire and get some water boiling. I am going to need some long bandages like this and bigger. Second thing is to keep everybody outside quiet, unbridle the horses and take them out to feed. Last thing we need is for them to get spooked and run off while I'm delivering this child." Skyka said talking to the woman and then spun back around and tore open the young woman's undergarment to reveal the child. The woman said something but Skyka only felt her leave the coach and didn't hear what she said.

"The child has not turned yet. I am going to fix the problem but this is going to hurt. Here…" Skyka said and wrapped several bandages together and put them in her mouth "bite down on these, breath through your mouth in small breathes. I'm going to turn the baby now." Skyka said and that was all the warning she gave. Skyka put one on the child's head and pushed hard down on her stomach. The young woman's body arched in pain as Skyka repositioned the child. Her body was in the middle of a contraction and she was losing more blood out of her vagina. Skyka spread it open as much as she could and saw that there was a tear in the wall where the child's foot probably was. Relieved that it was only this she pushed harder on her stomach to push the child out and when it was close enough she gently took it and pulled it slowly out. She was beyond fully dilated so the baby came out pretty quick. Skyka took the baby in one hand and wrapped him up in her blouse.

"My baby…my baby isn't breathing!" the woman yelled.

"Not yet anyway…your baby is still using your body. Now just relax…I need to speed things up here and stop your bleeding." Skyka said. She stuck her head out the window and yelled for some water. She then grabbed hold of the umbilical cord and pulled on it with steady pressure.

"What the hell is that? What are you doing?" The woman yelled.

"Stop yelling and relax! I know it feels weird, but I am saving your life and your child's life. Concentrate on breathing and relax. If you don't get your heart rate down you are going to bleed to death." Skyka said firmly. The woman nodded as Skyka went back to pulling out the rest of the cord and finally the placenta came out. She then cramped in the bandages into her vagina and spoke a soft word as quietly as she could.

"What did you say?" The woman asked.

"Just talking to myself, now hold the bandages here and I will attend to your baby." Skyka said. Skyka got the spell off in time as her wound quickly healed the large tear. It was just residual blood she had the woman cleaning up now.

Skyka held the child upside-down and shoved her fingers deep into the child's mouth and pulled out as much blood and water as she could. The baby's arms and legs flailed around as she did this. Then with a sharp smack on the child's back the baby sucked in air into his lungs for the first time as he started to cry.

"My baby…" the young lady said.

"Yes your baby…just relax I need to do some more stuff." Skyka said and then turned to her for a moment and smiled as she said "congratulations, he's a boy."

"I have a baby boy…I have a baby boy…what are you doing with that long tube coming out of his belly?" She asked.

"It was used to feed nutrients into your baby while it was in your womb. It is no longer needed so I am tying it off and I'm going to cut it. In about two weeks it will shrivel up and fall off. I need to do this quickly before an infection gets pumped into his body." Skyka said moving quickly while she talked. She made it look like she had done this a thousand times before. Skyka then made a make-shift diaper for him and then helped the young lady to sit up.

"He needs to learn how to suckle, pull out one of your boobs and let him feed on it. This is something you need to teach him, but I will help you at first." Skyka said.

"But…I'm bleeding…" she said as she sat up. She looked tired and exhausted, but the color in her face had returned.

"The bleeding will stop it was only a tear in your uterine wall. Now take your baby and put his mouth on your nipple." Skyka said.

"How do you know all of this?" She asked.

"This isn't my first delivery of a baby. What is your name by the way? My name is Skyka."

"Skyka? I have never heard of that name before. My name is Cynthia. I guess I need to pick out a name for my little boy now." Cynthia said and then she looked surprised when the baby latched onto her nipple and started to suckle. "He's doing it!"

"Hold the baby more like this" Skyka said and had her hold her baby across her chest at a forty-five degree angle. "The baby will feel your heartbeat, listen to you breathing and suckle on your breast. This is the best soothing technique for your baby. Did you bring any cloth for diapering the child?" Cynthia's face looked at her in shock. Apparently they didn't think about this part. Skyka turned to yell out of the coach and saw Cynthia's mother and father looking in. They both looked at Skyka and waited to be yelled at, Skyka had to hold back a smile.

"I'm sorry about my behavior earlier but I had to have space to work. We need diapers and clothes for the baby. Who is his father?" Skyka asked.

"I am ma'am. I will turn myself in I promise, but before you do please let me hold Cynthia and my baby." The young man said running up next to her father, but then turned away when he saw Cynthia breast feeding the baby.

"Let's just keep things simple for now. How is the fire coming along?" Skyka asked.

"I…the thing is…I don't know…I mean I gathered some wood and when I came back there was a fire roaring from out of the ground beneath the kettle. I don't know how it got so big and so hot so quickly, but it is boiling the water now." The young man said.

"Mohania you idiot…" Skyka said in her mind.

"How did you guess?" It was Lindel's voice in Skyka's mind. This time she let out a smile and then instructed them to wash all of the garments that Skyka had removed in the water and told them to get some more water for drinking.

"Can't we just take them down to a river and wash them?" Her father asked.

"Why does everybody question me? I save your daughter's life and her baby and you question me about how to wash a simple garment? Put the torn clothes into the water for about ten minutes and stir them around. Then set them up to dry somewhere and dump out the water. Do I need to explain to you how to take a piss as well or do you have that figured out?" Skyka said in a clearly upset voice. Cynthia let out a laughter that spooked the baby.

"No ma'am…" her father said turning around to do what she said.

"I will do whatever you say from now on. I cannot believe what you just said to my father! I would have gotten ten lashes for that!" Cynthia said smiling and holding back her laughter.

"A lesson about men, they like to think that they are in charge but who is it that does all of the work when they are out? He probably would not know how to thread a needle and would end up with the needle half-way in his finger. Women are just as important as men – don't you ever let any man tell you differently." Skyka said winking at Cynthia and turned to her mom and asked "isn't that right?"

"I did not hear of any truer words spoken…men would be running around naked and washing themselves in a rain barrel if it weren't for us women, you didn't hear that from me though…" her mom said grinning. Her mom reached out and put a hand on Skyka's shoulder and said "thank you for saving my daughter's life and her child. Nobody would have done this for us. You do realize if you are caught with us, that you too will be jailed for delivering a bastard child."

"I would have done it for anybody, and nobody will catch us. Tell my husband, Herrior is his name, out there to move us off the path and hide us for the next couple of nights. I want to monitor your daughter for infection and the baby as well. I will find some plants to help strengthen her body, but in the meantime do you have any medicine?" Skyka asked.

Her mom looked to both sides of her and then quietly whispered "anybody caught with medicine or practicing medicine without the King's approval is denounced as a witch and burned at the stake."

"Where I come from – people that save people's lives are called friends, not witches. Were you watching the whole time?" Skyka asked.

"I was" her mother replied.

"And did I cast any magic spells on your daughter?" Skyka asked.

"No you did not…" she smiled back and then told Skyka that her family had a history of problems giving birth to children and wasn't surprised with the complications of this delivery. Skyka listened, but didn't really care as she prepared some more bandages. She got out and walked with her mom still pretending that she was listening to her as she shot Herrior a quick smile. Herrior smiled back and knew what she meant, she wanted relief.

"Let's get this coach off the road!" Herrior yelled out and walked towards it. Jacklyn caught up with Herrior as they walked together to move the stage coach. Each of them picked up a wooden post and pulled it effortlessly off the road and a ways.

"Them two are the biggest people I've ever seen…where did you say you were from?" the dad asked.

"We're travelers. We help those in need and live off the land. We just arrived here not too long ago. Where are you from and where are you heading?" Skyka asked.

"Tyr…we were heading to the city."

"Will you be heading back then?" Skyka asked.

"I…have no idea."

"Head to the city and your child will be counted in the census, head back to your house and you will have to make up a story for not being counted." Skyka said.

"What about you?" The mom asked as the whole family gathered around.

"Us?" Skyka asked with a smile "why…we're not here. By the time anybody catches up with us we'll be long gone. We're travelers – we pay tax to no one, we settle down nowhere and we will be long gone before the night comes. Speaking of we should probably be on our way. Shall we?" Skyka asked turning to Herrior.

Herrior nodded and said "You should be fine now, we must get going. I would suggest leaving your coach here for awhile. Let your horses rest and give the baby and her mom time to relax."

"Wait…you can't just leave, you saved my daughter's life. Hon go grab some gold and some food…"

"That's not necessary ma'am, let's move out." Herrior said holding up his hand.

"Where will you be heading?" The husband asked.

"Recon we'll follow that bird up there…go as far as it'll lead us until night fall and then hunker down." Herrior said. His party was in formation as Herrior glanced back and then started to walk.

"Night fall around these parts are dangerous…a new curse has come upon the lands – thought for sure it was gonna take my daughter here. We haven't repaid our debt to you and I believe in repaying debts, you saved my daughter's life – we'll save yours. I can have my boy ride ahead and get some horses and we will bring you back to our ranch. We will get you there before dark." The husband said.

Herrior paused with the rest of his party at the same time. Herrior didn't realize it at the time but as he glanced over at him they all looked scared about their sudden stop.

"New curse eh? When did it start?" Herrior asked.

"Mmm… 'bout two days ago. Rumors around these parts say that the dead rise up from the ground…even where there aren't any bodies buried and steal your children in the middle of the night. It's hard to believe that you haven't seen or heard of these tales."

"We don't believe in stories that scare the children from leaving their beds in the middle of the night or stories to keep the lawless in line. Fear is all it is…fear runs more rampant then the plague. If you buy into the stories then that is your business but no walking dead is going to change our course." Herrior said as Mohania let out a loud annoying cough.

"It aint stories mister…listen what you have done for my family I can never repay, but let me take you home – you can see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears what we have experienced. I'm not a liar."

"Not calling you one, the mind can play a lot of tricks on a fellow…" Herrior said and turned to his party. They nodded or gave an indication to go; Herrior didn't have to give the order. "We will follow you home and take shelter with you but you don't have to feed or wait on us, I don't want to put you out."

"Oh come now, don't reject food that I haven't cooked yet. I'm the best cook within a hundred miles, and I am going to give you the best dinner you have ever had the chance to sink your teeth into. I'm Gladious, my husband is Timothy, our boy is Gerald and our soon to be son-in-law is Timon. You already have met Cynthia and her baby of course. Now call me crazy but I have this feeling that you need us as much as we need you. Come now, no more talk – Timothy and Gerald go hook up the horses and let's head on back." Gladious said but before Herrior could protest she said "And I am the type of woman that doesn't take no for an answer…come on now ya'll let's get going. You bring all of your friends and your bird will have to wait to be followed until another day."

Herrior didn't like being ordered around especially from a woman that wasn't a fighter or part of his party, however her words made sense. He looked back and let out a burst of air through his large tauren nose as he showed his opinion of what he thought of the situation. He then turned around and said "We will accept your offer, but only for tonight. We will sleep in the barn with the livestock."

Lindel linked up all of their minds to hers, including Quinely who was still flying overhead. Her banshee powers allowed her psychic abilities that in the past were able to save everybody's life as well as distribute information quickly without speaking a word.

"What's the plan Herrior?" Lindel asked in her mind as the question was put into the rest of the party's minds as well.

"Something isn't right…people seem skittish and are afraid of the night. I get the feeling that she is speaking for not only herself but for her neighbors as well. Could be a clue as to where the crystal might be…or it could be just a magic user trying to obtain more power. Either way I don't see any hurt in investigating. We have a lead so we might-as-well follow up on it." Herrior said in his mind as his voice was transmitted to everybody else's mind in the party.

"Stay in the stable eh? What's the reasoning behind that?" Mohania asked in his mind.

"Your breath is awful and you fart fire in your sleep…either way you would probably end up burning down their house." Herrior said.

"My breath is not awful…here Jacklyn smell it…" Mohania said and walked up next to Jacklyn.

"I will rearrange your bones so that even you couldn't put yourself back together…" Jacklyn said looking away.

"Eh – big hairy guy has a point…I haven't burned anything in awhile."

"Only the grass and dirt around the black kettle…could you have made it anymore obvious that you were making that fire? Perhaps next time wait for a couple of sticks first." Dan said.

"Hey – I panicked. Generally when women scream it's because I make them…I'm not used to this whole, well whatever 'doctor Skyka' did…all of that breathing and pushing and screaming…just doesn't seem normal." Mohania said.

"Any more abnormal then a walking skeleton disguised as a human?" Julie asked smiling.

"Completely normal…hey you know what would be fun is we could…"

"No." Herrior said abruptly interrupting him.

"You know me too well…anyways when the dead start to rise up I'm taking to the streets. There's no way I'm missing out on that." Mohania said smiling.

"Something is not adding up. Follow them back but everybody keep your senses up. If any of you sense anything foul…" Herrior said when suddenly Mohania let out a loud fart. He seemed quite pleased with himself.

"Sense anything else foul…let me know. Quinely what do you see up there my dear?"

"Nothing…just fields. There are more trees up ahead, nothing substantial though. A flock of birds are going to be joining us soon." Quinely said still flying.

"Get higher up and see what else there is, but don't get to far away." Herrior said.

"Will do" Quinely said and morphed into an eagle and flew upwards.

"Anything else? If not I'll break the mental link." Lindel said.

"Go ahead. I figure we should probably pay attention to our new 'hosts' and see what other information they can give us along the way." Herrior said.


	3. Chapter 3

Herrior and their new host family arrived at their home. There were two houses on the property, an outhouse, two barns and a stable. There was a well and what looked like three different fields along with a garden and cellar attached to the house. It looked old – like it had been passed down to them.

Herrior looked up at Quinely flying around. She flew over to the roof of the house and started looking around.

"It's getting dusk…we've probably been seen already. Hurry in the house everyone!" Timothy said.

"We'll tend to your horses." Skyka said walking up from behind.

"The horses are the least of our worries, come in the house with us – quickly now." Gladious said.

"No, we will sleep in the barn. We will meet whatever threat comes on your property." Herrior said.

"That's insane you do not know what comes out at night!" Timothy said with fear in his voice.

"I have yet to find anything that I haven't been able to handle. Have a good rest…ma'am" Herrior said nodding at his wife as Skyka and Jacklyn took the horses towards the stables.

"It's been nice knowing you…" Timothy said and quickly got his family into the house. As soon as it was safe Quinely flew down and morphed back into her human form.

"Aw…what a cute pair of horses…yes you are…you are cute you know that?" Quinely said as she began to rub the horse's necks.

"Get a room will ya…" Mohania said walking by her.

"Oh pay no attention to him…he's just a grumpy head…he hasn't killed anybody in awhile." Quinely said as she continued to pet them. The horses started to neigh and snort and occasionally stomped one of their front hoofs in the dirt.

"What are they saying Quinely?" Herrior asked.

"They don't like to pull the stage coach and they don't like being whipped. I'm going to go tell their owners." Quinely said.

"Quinely…hun I need you to focus for a minute. Herrior wants to know what the horses know about these creatures that come out at night." Skyka said.

"Oh…they are just humans playing a joke. They came two moons ago and are harassing this family because there is a male that likes a female in the house. They are trying to scare them into leaving or into thinking that there is a curse on the family." Quinely said.

"So much for our lead…now what?" Skyka asked.

"I have no idea…" Herrior said letting out a sigh.

"Might as well call it a night…don't kill anybody tonight Mohania…" Jacklyn said and walked towards one of the barns.

"I won't kill the person called 'anybody'…" Mohania said smiling. Jacklyn shook her head and continued to walk.

"Can't be too many people here called 'anybody' – I'll ask them first before I rip their heart out and make them watch me devour it while they die!" Mohania said in an evil sinister voice and then laughed.

"Well Mohania isn't going to take watch tonight…Dan, Lindel – are you sure this is the right time period?" Herrior asked again.

"No…I'm not sure about anything. There was a power surge at this point in time on Earth and it engulfed the entire world for several seconds. The focal point was somewhere in this area…where at? I have no idea, we can't track the crystals – they don't leave a forwarding address and they aren't screaming out 'We're over here…come get us!' so no…I don't know exactly where they are. Our monks in Tranquil and Chronomancers got us as close as they could to the spot. Hell…for all I know they could be buried…why don't we dig a hole and look for them?" Dan replied back.

"Got it all out of your system yet slick?" Julie asked rubbing his hair as she walked by to catch up with Jacklyn. She whistled and her dog Spark suddenly appeared. The dog weighed nearly six hundred pounds and looked to be pure muscle; however it jumped up and down around Julie wanting to play as if it was a puppy.

"Sorry…maybe we should check with the King of these lands, he would probably know more than the locals that are scared of people in scary masks and bed sheets. The elements aren't telling me anything. I can fly around for a bit and take it all in…see if something is glowing tonight." Dan said. He put a hand over his eyes and then rubbed them.

"Skyka, go take Dan and make sure he gets some sleep. Trackolania you have the first watch along with Lindel. If scary people come – wake us up, except for Mohania…" Herrior said.

"Hey…that's not fair! Besides…undead don't sleep." Mohania said smiling.

"You get cranky if you don't get your beauty rest…" Lindel said smiling.

"You get annoying if you breathe…" Mohania said back.

"Banshee's don't breathe…so there!" Lindel said and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Eww…fine you win…just wake me up if something happens." Mohania said and walked towards the barn.

"Kids…" Herrior said closing his eyes and slowly shook his head.

"He started it…" Lindel said jokingly.

"Trackolania go lay some non-lethal traps. Lindel go invisible and read their minds. Maybe we'll get lucky and catch a break. If nothing else we'll teach them not to mess with this family. Let's go the rest of you." Herrior said and the rest of his party started walking towards the barn.

Lindel waited for a moment and then knelt down and asked "Think Dan is having trouble dealing with the loss of his wife?" Trackolania nodded and looked at her sadly.

"I think so also, I think Herrior knows that as well. Let's see what we can find out tonight. You get to work I'm going to go eavesdrop on our hosts." Lindel said and vanished from sight. Trackolania nodded and vanished from sight as well.

Inside the barn Jacklyn found several rats and Mohania had cooked them thoroughly. Herrior came in as they saw them eating them. She tossed one at him.

"There's a colony of termites in the back, some edible florae in feeds in the field behind us and a pack of foxes that we think are going to be coming in tonight." Jacklyn said.

"The feast of royalty…" Herrior said and took a bite of his rat.

"Lindel and Trackolania on the first watch?" Jacklyn asked. Herrior nodded. He looked over at Dan as he finished his rat and tossed it towards Mohania. He then walked to the opposite side of the barn and laid down on some straw. Herrior looked back at Jacklyn as she nodded slightly and then looked down. Herrior knew it was going to be another night of Dan crying himself to sleep. Herrior motioned to leave him alone as Mohania picked up the carcass of the rat Dan gave him and swallowed it whole.

Nightfall came and shortly after midnight the excitement came. Trackolania and Lindel sensed them coming at the same time. Trackolania had gathered dozens of stones and raced up on the roof of the house. Lindel flew into the air and waited, both of them still invisible. There were a dozen that quickly and quietly approached the home – all wearing disguises.

"Take the blood and splatter it on the windows, you two go scare the livestock. Tonight after our rituals we will put a curse on the house by completing our ritual. Let's get started…" the leader said when the faint cries of a baby could be heard. "That slut gave birth; I'm going to take that child! It isn't hers!" The leader said and put his mask on with a renewed strength running through his blood. Lindel relayed all of what the leader was saying back to her party. They were all wide awake and ready to leap into action. This time though they didn't have their trinkets activated – their true selves would be seen. They eagerly waited for the signal to come out.

"The spirits…they are back!" Timothy said and quickly shut the windows and locked the doors.

"What about the people out in the barn?" Gladious asked.

"They choose their fate…quiet that child! Everybody get together."

The people outside began to chant some words as they walked around the house. On their second march around they threw the pails of blood on the house. The women inside the house screamed, which made the child scream every louder as the blood seeped in through the bottom of the door and trickled down the windows.

"That child is damned…" the leader said manipulating his voice to sound like a demon.

"Leave us alone!" Timothy yelled out. Their house began to shake as the chanting got louder.

"Sacrifice the damned child! The bastard child born into the womb of a slut! These are monstrosities! Save your lives and give us the child!" The leader said.

"I'm not going to give up my child…you hear me! Never!" Cynthia yelled! The shaking stopped and was replaced by the sounds of scratching noises against the wood.

"Your child will be a curse upon your family!" This time it was a woman's voice.

"Your child is the damnation of this world!" said another.

"Stop it! Go away!" Cynthia screamed.

Trackolania had enough of this and launched into attack. He threw six rocks in front of him and six behind them; immediately afterwards he did a backwards flip off from the back of the house. While he was still in the air, all of the rocks spread apart and they hit all twelve of their marks. The traps were sprung and the spring loaded traps launched super strong strings towards their thighs. Reaching their target they pulled everybody into the house all at the same time creating a simultaneous "thud" sound. Trackolania landed on the ground and sprung back hard launching himself towards his first target. In one swift move he removed the person's hood and punched him hard in the side. He screamed out in pain and fell backwards.

At the same time Lindel moved towards the leader and as soon as she touched his shoulder he cried out in pain. The others with him turned to look at him while pinned to the house and suddenly watched his body fly up into the air and out of sight. Panic set it and now the cultists began to cry for help, but everybody in the house thought it was all still part of the séance.

"That little turd isn't going to kill all of them…move you hairy cow!" Mohania said pushing past Herrior and rocketing forward at speeds that no ordinary person could reach.

"The object is not to kill them…" Herrior said.

Mohania's head spun around and said "Kill them…got it…" then it turned the rest of the way around and he raced towards the house.

"No…stupid undead…" Herrior said under his breath racing towards the house.

"He just does that to get under your skin…you should know that by now." Jacklyn said.

"Hard to tell sometimes…after what I've seen the cultists do and say, I can't say I wouldn't turn a blind eye if something were to happen…" Herrior said. Mohania suddenly started to laugh a sinister laughter.

"Curse his Vulcan hearing…" Julie said letting out a causal laughter.

"Julie" her dog Spark said.

"Go find a play toy Spark!" Julie said pointing at one of the cultists and suddenly Spark appeared next to her and picked up the woman up in his teeth and threw her a dozen feet away from the house. He let out a loud howl as he began to let out his deep growl.

"Stupid dog – that one was mine!" Mohania said. He finally got to the house and put his hand on one of the trapped males and instantly his hood caught fire. He began to scream and tried to get away and eventually lost his balance and fell to the ground. The fire only burned off his mask and he looked up at the undead skeleton looking down at him. He screamed in terror as the others screamed and tried to get away. Mohania reached down and picked him up with one hand.

"I will devour your heart as you witness your own death over take you!" Mohania said in his dark and sinister voice. The man then passed out from freight.

"I told you not to kill anybody…" Herrior said running by him.

"He passed out! It wasn't my fault!" Mohania said turning his head around watching Herrior move past him. He spun his head back around and said "useless" and tossed him away. He then looked at five of the cultists trying to look at him. Mohania chanted some words and his hands came to life with magic, he then casted a spell that flew from his hands and into the cultists. The cultists screamed so hard and with such intensity that their eyes and ears began to bleed. "Music to my ears…" Mohania said with a satisfied smile.

Herrior and the others grabbed the other terrified cultists and threw them hard in front of the house. Many of their bones broke as they landed and bounced off from the ground. Lindel brought the leader back and slammed his body hard onto the pile.

"Get what we needed?" Herrior asked.

"Got a lead…they need to stay alive though, I've got a plan." Lindel said.

"I've got a plan too…let's kill them and devour their bodies." Mohania said.

"We'll go with Lindel's plan this time, activate your trinkets!" Herrior commanded. Suddenly his entire party turned into their human form with the same clothing.

"So next time we'll go with mine?" Mohania asked smiling.

Ignoring Mohania Herrior said "Julie…time to put Spark away." Julie nodded and snapped her fingers and also put away her gun. It faded into her clothing so nobody could see it. Herrior then looked at Skyka and nodded. Skyka knocked gently on the door and in a soft voice she said "Cynthia? Timothy? This is Skyka, Skyka the doctor that helped your child bring her child into the world? My husband and I caught the people harassing you. I need you to come out and identify them."

Nobody from the house made a sound, except for the crying child. Skyka looked over and Lindel and she nodded, that meant they heard her but were too scared to move.

"There were no demons…it was people playing a joke on you, a very sick joke. We need your help though in identifying them. It is ok out here, it is safe to come out I give you my word.

"How can we trust you? How do we know you aren't being held against your will and speaking the will of the demons?" Timothy asked.

"Because demons can go through walls…demons would not coax you out of a building, they would enter and attack you from within. These are humans." Skyka said.

"What about the chanting…and the blood?"

"Pig's blood and they were just talking gibberish – nothing dangerous." Skyka replied.

"What about the screams and cries of pain?"

"We have them stacked up outside your door. We attacked them and want to know who they are and why they would attack your house? Can you please come out?"

"I've got salt…and garlic…"

"We aren't cooking up a soup…you are perfectly fine to exit your house." Skyka said smiling trying not to laugh.

"She said my life and my child's life…I'm going out." Cynthia said getting up the courage and walked over to the door and opened it.

"See…" Skyka said and held her hand out at the pile of people on the ground.

"They aren't demons…wait…you son of a bitch!" Cynthia yelled and shoved her child into Skyka's hands. She walked quickly over to the leader and punched him hard in the nose. Some of the cultists moved to help their leader, but Jacklyn and Herrior stepped on their arms and chest – immobilizing them.

"How dare you do this to my family? You beat your son and exiled him from your house! Now you have your entire household here and your friends to scare us? I will tear you limb from limb!" Cynthia screamed and punched him again.

"There is a special technique to it, here let me show you…" Mohania said.

"He's a bastard son, being raised by a worthless slut's family – you whore!" The man yelled back with blood dripping from his mouth. Trackolania suddenly appeared behind the man and landed a hard punch at the bottom of his kidney. The man screamed in pain and dropped to the ground. Cynthia anger then got the better of her as she started tearing out the man's hair and beating him.

"You're only attacking his face…you want to twist his arm in the opposite direction until you hear a snap and then pull hard…" Mohania said.

"Nobody's listening to you hun." Lindel said.

"She's doing it wrong though. Think of me as a teacher, I want to educate the masses…" Mohania said. Lindel sighed and looked away.

Minutes passed and Cynthia finally collapsed from exhaustion. Her family came out with swords to finish them off.

"Death does not justify what they did, I must interject." Herrior said stepping forward.

"We can bury the bodies…nobody will ever know." Timothy said.

"You will know…we will bring them back to their homes and they will not trouble you anymore." Herrior said.

"They deserve death!" Timothy screamed.

"Death is overrated…" Mohania said.

"Do you ever know when to shut up?" Lindel asked poking him.

Herrior and Timothy didn't hear them as Herrior said "They did not kill anybody, you have my word though that they will be sorry for what they did. Killing one out of anger will only bring real trouble upon you and your family. This was not a battlefield, they did not kill any of you, killing them would be wrong in this situation. It appears that Cynthia has exhausted her anger towards their leader. She needs to be tended to as well as her child. Take both of them and go back into your house and get some sleep. No blood will be spilled tonight."

Timothy threw his sword into the ground and walked over to help her daughter get up on her feet.

"Yeah…you take that little whore of yours…" the leader started to say.

"Mohania – rip out his teeth!" Herrior's voice boomed in the night with deep authority that it sent shivers down the family's spines.

Excitedly Mohania ran over and pushed the man to the ground and straddled his stomach and said "This…is going to hurt…" with a big smile and then punched the man hard in his mouth. His head slammed down on the ground hard and then he let out excruciating pain sounds as Mohania plucked each tooth, one at a time.

"Surround the others! If any of them make a sound or even flinch they will have the same fate!" Herrior said and his party quickly surrounded the others and slammed their feet on their arms and chest to ensure that they meant business.

"Who…are you?" Timothy asked Herrior quietly.

"A traveler…take your family and get some sleep, you are safe now. You will not see us again. By day break they will be gone and if they do see you in the future, they will flee from you." Herrior said as the man continued to scream in pain.

"Well…whoever you are…traveler…I'm glad we ran into you. Cynthia let's go." Timothy said.

"Are they going to kill him daddy?" Cynthia asked sounding slightly concerned.

"There are things worse than death…" Mohania said louder this time.

"Come on daughter, get your child and let's go inside." Timothy said and he quickly moved his family in the house and locked the door.

"Mohania aren't you done yet?" Herrior asked.

"Uh…no, I can just rip out his lower jaw to speed things up." Mohania replied.

"Do it." Herrior said. The man looked up in fear as Mohania's eyes turned red with a big smile. The man didn't know what was worse…the thing looking down at him causing a new fear he had never known before, or the feeling of his lower jaw detach from the cartilage and being pulled out of his mouth. Herrior reached down and pulled hard on the man's arm as Herrior put him on his feet.

"So you like picking on little girls huh…got anything to say in your defense?" Herrior asked. The man's mouth looked grotesquely obscured with blood dripping out of his deformed mouth.

"Let's go for a walk…all of you get up! Take off those stupid disguises or we will burn them off from your bodies!" Herrior yelled out. The rest of the cultists did exactly as he said.

"Now you will walk back to your homes and never step a foot near this place again…if you do you will feel the same pain that this man is feeling – only a hundred times worse! Is that understood?" Herrior yelled out. They all nodded. Herrior pointed out his finger and said "March!"


	4. Chapter 4

The cultists marched in single file back to their town; they would look over their shoulders just a couple of times and saw faint shadows moving along with them. The leader was wearing a sign written in his blood. Upon reaching the town some drunken men stumbled out of the tavern holding onto each other by the shoulder and laughing. One of them spotted the group stumbling in.

"Hello there! Buy ya a round?" He called out. The group stayed quiet and continued to march.

"Better yet…buy us a round!" Another drunken man said and they all started laughing. One of them fell down and the other two helped pull him up to his feet. The three of them continued to laugh when one of them turned around and became stone sober the second he saw the leader.

"Dear God man…what happened to you?" He asked as the other two quit laughing and turned around to see the man. The leader held up the sign around his neck.

"We were practicing witchcraft…  
"We were going to kill a whore…

"We were going to sacrifice a child…

"We confess all of this in my blood…"

The men read the sign and then looked up at the man as they saw for the first time in the torch light that his lower jaw and teeth were missing. He tried to make a sound but the only thing that came out was blood and bubbles.

"Call the guards! Alert the Mayor! Wake the Duke! Too arms! We're under attack by witches! Too arms!" One of the men yelled as loud as he could. The patrons at the bar were the first ones to run out and they grabbed whatever they could find to use as weapons on the way out. Once they saw the men they gasped, the women screamed, and a combination of both vomited at the sight of them. They too called for men at arms to wake.

They were immediately taken into custody by several swordsmen. Shackled as tightly as they could by the hands and legs, they were led into a barn and held at bay by the tips of swords. Two runners was dispatched immediately, one to give word to the Duke, and one to spread word at the kingdom.

"You dare wake me in the middle of the night? What is all of the commotion about? Speak lively lad!" The Duke said.

"Ten people…ten of our citizens…ten of our townsfolk…" the young man had trouble saying what he was told to say. He rehearsed it all the way to the Duke but still couldn't find the correct words to say.

"Well what is it? Prostitutes gettin' out of line? Boy that's something you needt be worked up about at your age. Speak up now, what is it? Your face looks as pale as goat's hid."

"Witches sir…ten of them! They are the walking dead…walked right into our town! Blood everywhere sir…so much blood…"

"What? Guards go wake the rest of our men! Bring me my armor and prepare my horse! I want every single able bodied man that can lift a sword to meet me outside in the next twenty minutes! Not one witch has ever been found in my town…and this here boy claims there are ten? Wake the Reverend! If the King gets word of this he'll skin me alive and use it as his rug…" the Duke said.

"A runner was sent to the Kingdom." The lad said.

"What? How long ago?" This time the Duke looked scared.

"A good twenty minutes ahead of me sir."

"Get out of here!" The Duke yelled at the young man. He then picked up a vase and threw it at the door as it quickly shut with the boy on the other side. He cursed violently at the door as he started throwing stuff around his room.

After he was done throwing a fit he left the room and was met by a guard who had his armor, sword and shield. "This gets settled tonight! Is that clear?"

"Yes sir."

"This is not the type of thing that happens in my town! A few loose women…a few drunk men…but witches, and ten of them?" The Duke said putting his leather and chainmail armor over his body.

"Word is spreading quickly…the streets are lit up and every person in the city is awake, panic has begun." The guard said.

"Of course there is panic! I'm scared shitless – not because of the witches but because of what will happen when the King and clerics find out!" The Duke said. He stopped to look at himself in a polished glass frame and said "Not in my town! Not in my town!" he took a deep breath and then screamed "Not my town!" and shattered the mirror with his sword. He ran towards his front door and kicked it open. There were several dozen men at arms waiting outside.

"Commander take lead!" the Duke yelled and pointed with his sword towards the direction that they needed to go.

"Move out!" His commander said raising his sword. Several men of the cloth showed up with their weapons for fighting evil, an assortment of bibles, hymnals, crucifixes, holy water, and daggers with Latin inscriptions on them.

"What are you going to do – read to them to death? Everything dies by a blade!" The Duke yelled mocking them.

"The flesh dies by the blade…if they are witches your men will die before their blades can get near them." The head priest said.

"So be it…come with us but do not slow us down."

The army arrived to witness the townsfolk gathered around the several beaten cultists as they murmured among themselves.

"Make way…make way – return to your houses!" The Commander yelled. The citizens were run off.

"Who found them?" The Commander yelled.

"I did sir…they walked right through the gates and right up to us. We didn't touch them…I swear!" The man had never sobered up this quickly before in his life.

"You reek of ale…what have they said so far?" The commander asked as he moved his forces around the ten cultists.

"Nothing I can understand sir…just mumblings, read the one in front, read his sign and look at him sir…he isn't alive…he is the walking dead!"

"Shut up and go home! They are probably just as drunk as you are! Be gone from this place!" The Commander yelled and raised his sword at the drunken man. He ran away.

"Sir – the drunkard is right…the man in the lead has a sign on his chest." A soldier said.

"Written by the Devil?" A cleric asked walking up to him.

"No sir…written in our tongue…it is written in blood…"

"Steady your nerves soldier! Step away…" The Commander said walking up to it and read it. He then turned to the Duke and walked back. The clerics had begun a ritual to banish the evil from the people.

"Report Commander"

"It's a written confession. They are witches practicing witchcraft. Talks about sacrificing a child and killing a person. Brings me the shivers…"

"Steady yourself Commander. What do you think happened?" The Duke asked trying to think of an excuse to tell the King and the head clergy when they arrive.

"They are severely beaten and the man with the sign has had his lower jaw ripped completely out…he still bleeds and yet lives. They are all shackled."

"Shackled?"

"Yes sir" the Commander repeated.

"So they could have been caught by somebody else's forces and brought here?" The Duke said.

"Possibility sir"

"Of course that is what happened Commander! They just don't shackle themselves and wonder into our town! Take them out of town and get their families! I want them interrogated in front of these… 'witches." The Duke said and then lowered his voice, "Look at them Commander…the clerics…spraying them with holy water and singing at them, I ought to have them locked up as well. You don't win fights with songs and dancing – you win by metal, men and horses…makes me sick. I don't know who I feel worse for, the accused or those that are accusing them."

"Yes sir"

"Get them out of my town…and get their families! We'll figure out what this is all about before the Kings men get here." The Duke said.

"Form up! Grab some rope and pull these sorry excuses for humans out of the town…drag them out of here if you have to just get a hundred yards out towards the stream. You three – do you recognize them?" The Commander said in a sharp tone.

"Yes sir…they are all from the Menizel and Willow families." A soldier said.

"Bring all of their families out and place them under arrest – if even one of them slips out in the night, you will have the same fate as these witches!" The Commander said.

"Right away sir"

"Commander you cannot move the unholy…the evil is here and has started to spread." A cleric said.

"Well if the evil is spreading all the more reason to get them out of town now isn't it? Take your rituals out with them."

"We must burn the dirt that they have spilled blood on and the steps that they have taken!"

"Fine fine…just don't burn down the town." The Commander said and waved him away.

Twenty minutes later the cultists had been dragged to the location indicated by the Duke. A large pile of wood was brought and was doused with kerosene. The Menizel and Willow clans were brought out and the soldiers made sure everyone of them were accounted for. The man with the missing lower jaw had finally succumbed to his wounds.

"Listen up you witches! I want answers or I will start slicing the necks of your family starting with the youngest to the oldest!" The Duke said and then thrusted his sword into a young girl's chest. She let out a brief scream before being pushed off from the Duke's sword.

"You're not talking fast enough! Who's next?" The Duke asked. He walked over to another child and raised his sword.

"Wait! That's my child!" A woman cried in pain.

"Then you had better talk and quickly! My arms are getting tired!" Yelled the Duke.

"We were scaring a family called the…" the woman's mouth then poured out with blood. She bent over and vomited hard. She continued to vomit so hard that her internal organs were broken lose and came up her throat and out her mouth. Everybody watched in horror as the woman continued to do this for several minutes and then looked up at the Duke as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell to the ground and began to have seizures.

"Kill her!" The Duke ordered. A soldier sliced off her head and she stopped shaking. The sound of horses coming could be heard…a lot of horses. The Duke looked in the direction and saw them coming, their torches nearly lighting up the entire night.

"Give me answers! Now!" The Duke screamed.

"Judgment has been passed and we have been found in wanting. Kill us before we become like her." A man said that was shackled up.

"What family were you scaring?" The Duke screamed at him as he pointed his sword at the man. The man simply lifted his head up so that the Duke could cut his head off cleanly.

"Compared to their fates I would welcome a clean quick death."

"Their minds and lips are sealed Duke…it is only through confession of the devils inside of them that they can be redeemed. Your swords are useless." The Reverend said.

"Shut up!" The commander yelled at him and then looked up and saw the horses had come within ear shot.

"Hold up Duke! The King requests words with you." A forward scout shouted.

"Of course he does…" the Duke said under his breath.

"We will make them speak when the King arrives…you will see…" the Reverend said mocking him.

The Duke swallowed hard and ordered his Commander to slay anybody that does something. He nodded in confirmation.

"The King of Yorkstown comes. He and his men are ten minutes behind me. What shall I tell them?" The forward scout asked.

"That we are honored by his presence on this chilly night and apologize for interrupting his night. The confessions of the witches have been told with their own mouths and are awaiting punishment." The Duke said faking a smile and talking through his teeth.

"Very good sir, I will tell him at once." Then the scout turned around and rode hard back.

"So help me if any of you do not speak I will kill off every last member of your family! You aren't afraid to die…maybe you are afraid of seeing your families suffer in poverty! I will see to it that they are sent to the lands of the plaque to die a slow painful death! Maybe that will loosen your lips!" The Duke had walked back and hit one of the children on the head hard with the hilt of his sword.

"We are the guilty ones not our families…their blood will be on your hands if you do." The man said.

"Last chance!" The Duke yelled at them so hard that saliva came out of his mouth as he gripped his sword with both hands. But they didn't have a last chance…a metallic object flew into sight, sliced the front part of the Duke's throat and then vanished just as fast as it had arrived into the dark. The Duke let go of his sword and slowly put his hands to his throat as blood started to spill out. He fell to his knees as his lungs began to fill with blood. He tried unsuccessfully to breathe but he fell to his side and died drowning in his own blood. The rest of the soldiers and Clerics backed away in fear as they waited for the King to arrive.

Ten minutes later the King's army had arrived along with the head Cleric and the King himself. The soldiers of the town explained everything to them.

"Their families know nothing of their cult activities?" The King asked.

"No my King, they would have confessed it. The Duke threatened their family's lives and struggled to get the truth before you came."

"Take their families to the dungeons and interrogate them. If they speak the truth then set them free. Only the guilty will be punished. Burn the damned. Strip the Duke of his armor and clothes and burn him as well. Priest will you oversee the cleansing ceremony?" The King asked the head priest.

"It will be an honor."

"Very well…so we have witches in the land. I want a dozen men here to make sure they do not come back alive. Find out if there are any more witches and let the clergy judge them. In the morning I want soldiers in every one of my towns looking for demonic worship. That is all for tonight." The King said and turned his horse around.

"My King a moment please? I was the Duke's Commander…"

"And now you are the Duke…any more questions that are preventing me from going back to my wife in bed?" The King asked moving his horse back around.

"No my King…my apologies" The new Duke said. The King turned his horse back around and most of his army rode back with him.

Hiding off in the distance and cloaked from sight using Trackolania's ability to hide in the shadows Herrior said "Good shot Trackolania."

"As if he ever misses…bastard deserved!" Mohania said.

"I thought he was bluffing." Dan whispered.

"So was I…" Herrior admitted.

"The King knows something…" Lindel said quietly.

"Yes?" Herrior asked. Lindel shook her head and held up a hand for him to be quiet. Lindel reached out with her powers as far as she could to lock on the King's thoughts, but eventually it was blended in with the rest of the thoughts as they got out of range. Lindel quietly swore.

"What did you get?" Herrior asked.

"He knows something…a man came into his kingdom and offered him great power. His soldiers knocked him out and have him in the dungeons…he is cold and wet and very weak. I lost his thoughts though…I need to get closer, but I don't have enough power to fly that far…even if I dematerialize my body." Lindel said.

"Well…let's go pay him a visit." Herrior said.

"Get arrested?" Lindel asked in surprise.

"We could level his kingdom and pull his worthless body out of the dungeons as the debris falls down all around him…and remember you said we would go with my idea next." Mohania said reminding Herrior.

"Kill hundreds to get to one person?" Skyka asked.

"I haven't worked out all of the details yet…but shaman boy over here and cause and earthquake while I fill the skies with fire…"

"Mohania work on your idea first and then talk. All we need is one of us to get arrested." Herrior said.

"Herrior – I can slip in and out without anybody noticing." Lindel said.

"And if you get caught? No I want backup. We are going to have to win over the King's trust to get close enough." Herrior said. Trackolania pointed to himself and pretended he was picking a lock.

"Yes I know my friend…no locks stand up to you. But what if the man in the dungeon is from Tranquil? Or his friends from Tranquil are in the city waiting for his trial? They all have to die…every last one of the traitors, but not before we get the crystal." Herrior said.

"Want me to follow them?" Quinely asked.

"Go ahead. We will make camp further back in the woods and then set off at first lit." Herrior said. Quinely morphed into a crow and flew off.

"So nice touch with the woman?" Lindel asked looking for praise.

"You know what Lindel? Here's a prize rock…your mom gave it to me last night…" Mohania said handing her a rock.

"You're a moron…" Lindel said swatting the rock away.

"Mohania go make the blaze bigger…just don't get caught." Herrior said. Mohania chanted some words and then disappeared from sight and left the stealthed cover that they were all in.

"You did fine Lindel." Herrior said.

"What's gotten up Mohania's ass lately?" Lindel asked.

"He's scared…like the rest of us. Altering a person's life in some way can lead to Julie and me vanishing from existence. You have to remember that whatever happens in the past changes the future." Dan said.

"I like existing personally…" Julie said with a smile.

"Are you scared Herrior?" Lindel asked.

"Of course I am. Tranquil depends on us getting the crystals back. As long as they are in the hands of evil ones…all that we know and love is in danger. But we mustn't dwell on fear; we have to keep our minds clear and focused. We could very well wake up tomorrow in an alliance dungeon getting beaten by their paladins and warriors. The timeline has to stay the way it is, or all of the battles that we have won will be for nothing. All of those that have fought and died before us will have died in vain. The Horde may never come together and we may suddenly not exist anymore. Does it scare me? It does beyond any battle I have ever fought. We are fighting time itself. Even if we do find the crystal we have to find out what damage the traitors have done and mend it. Now clear your minds and meditate on the night. Any time now I should be regretting sending Mohania to carry out that task…" Herrior said forcing a half smile. A minute later an enormous explosion occurred and fire spread everywhere. The voices of those screaming could be heard as Herrior turned around and saw the people fleeing the fire. The flames were higher than that of any tree he had ever seen. "Don't draw too much attention Mohania…" he said aloud.

"I'm not good at drawing…but that's one hell of a fire aint it?" Mohania asked suddenly appearing next to Herrior.

"You know what Mohania…I have this prize rock…" Lindel said smiling.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Herrior's party kept their distance from everybody as they made their way in the direction the King came from. Quinely flew ahead and led the way. Their trinkets were activated so they looked like the normal people of this time.

"I look normal…I hate this!" Mohania said. Nobody paid attention to him though.

"Do we have a complete plan for this snatch and grab?" Jacklyn asked.

"We have our hearthstones to contact everybody and we also have Lindel if we are in trouble. I'm thinking that we'll have to split up. I think we are in a time and a place where women aren't fighters. We also appear to be in a place where people believe in a form of magic but are unable to comprehend it. No magic from here on out unless you are certain nobody will see it. Dan and I will present ourselves as guards for hire. Quinely will remain in animal form, Skyka you take the rest of our ladies and find jobs in the courtyard. Listen for rumors about the man with the crystal. Look for alliance; I do not remember if they know about Earth at this time. Be especially on the lookout for the Tranquil traitors. Keep a low profile above all else. At sunset we will meet up outside the kingdom towards the east…always remember to chase the sun." Herrior said. Trackolania reached up and tugged on Herrior's shirt. "Trackolania you have fought beside me for battles too numerous to count. By the average height and bulk of the soldiers, I fear they would laugh at you and then you would gut them. I need you to sneak into the jail and bring me back keys of everything. I will forge new keys and have them returned to you to bring back. Anything you can pickpocket that would help us would be helpful. I'm not usually for pick pocketing food, but it will not hurt the people of this time period and we need full bellies. Do not steal from the poor. Mohania you are not good with the sword…so I'm not quite sure what you can do."

"I'll be a magician." Mohania said.

"Spark the curious with magic tricks? That might trigger another witchcraft episode. We'll keep him with us." Jacklyn said.

"Wonderful…I get to babysit the women…" Mohania said.

"You sure it isn't the other way around?" Lindel asked.

"It might be a good idea for you and Skyka to present yourselves as doctors." Herrior said.

"I already figured that. We can have Mohania help as long as he behaves himself." Skyka said.

"And if I don't?" Mohania dared to ask with a smirk on his face.

"I'll cut off your penis…" Skyka said.

"Too late! Undead don't have penises."

"You aren't undead right now and you feel the same pain as a human would…see!" Skyka said and poked him in the shoulder. Her finger pushed on his fake skin and eventually her finger went through the disguise and she felt bone. She pulled her finger back in surprise.

Mohania took off his hand and said "It appears as though I have the…upper hand?" Mohania said holding up his hand. Jacklyn took it from Mohania and tossed it to Skyka.

"Straighten up you guys." Jacklyn said.

"Hey…give me a hand will ya?" Mohania asked Skyka.

"If puns could kill…" Skyka said handing him back his hand.

"Have you guys got it out of your system yet? The castle wall is in sight. Quinely seems to be suggesting that there are people coming this way. She has done seven circles, so I'm assuming seven of them." Herrior said.

"Let me check." Dan said and knelt down on the ground. He placed his hand on the ground and let the earth tell him. "Five horses, a heavy cart and eight people."

"No…no there are thirty of them and they are grieving. They are pulling a cart of dead people. A plaque has come into the city." Lindel said.

"You can sense them?" Herrior asked.

"No…the ground has been broken in many places…" Dan said standing back up.

"I sensed that from Dan…" Lindel said smiling.

"Color me impressed…" Mohania said.

"What do I do?" Julie asked.

"Yeah I'm sort of stuck out in the blue as well." Veliline said.

"I'm not a doctor, and if I pull out my gun and let off a couple of rounds it will shake the very foundation of the kingdom and if I summon Spark he's bound to eat somebody." Julie said.

"Releasing my rune magic I'm certain would not go over well…" Veliline said and allowed herself to smile as she thought of the consequences. Herrior was glad that she was able to smile. He would feel better if he could see Dan smile.

"Tend to the animals?" Herrior asked masking his thoughts.

"That's a job for Quinely…in fact we should have her speak with the local livestock. They would know more information then we could get with rumors." Julie said.

"I'm with Julie on this idea Herrior." Jacklyn said with authority. He nodded and glanced at Lindel. She made a mental link with Quinely and she immediately started flying down towards some thick bushes and unkept trees.

"The leader of an army is only as good as the ideas he is presented with. Good job with this one guys. Skyka Lindel and anybody else that wants to help with their practice – go catch up with the wagon." Herrior said.

"I'll go" Jacklyn said.

"I'm in" Mohania said.

"Trackolania go catch up with Quinely in the brush and begin your business. Dan you and I will break off and be recruited as soldiers or mercenaries for hire. Quinely, Veliline, Julie tend to the live stock. Everybody remember – follow the sun. Good hunting everybody." Herrior said and the party broke off to perform their assigned duties.

Herrior and Dan walked up to a guard and Herrior spoke first.

"Morning to you, we're passing through town and were wondering if we could help the King's guards for a time?" The guard didn't flitch any. Herrior wondered if the guard was possibly deaf.

"Excuse me sir…"

"Away with you, tend to your own business!" The guard said.

"My apologies…" Herrior said and walked away.

"What did that monster want?" Another guard asked and Herrior suddenly wondered if his trinket was working. He kept his pace though as he walked away.

"What…the tall barbarian? Wants a job being a guard or some such nonsense…should have the bloke arrested."

"He could probably best you in a duel"

"Best me my ass! His arms are practically dragging on the ground; he needs to go back to the cave that he crawled out of."

"A day's wager he beats you." The other guard said watching Herrior.

"A full day's wage? Well if you want to throw away your gold" the stubborn guard said pulling out his sword.

"A friendly duel…away with your sword, use our wooden swords. Hey you! The tall guy!" The other guy said. Herrior took that as his queue and looked surprised as he turned around.

"Yeah you, come on over here." The guard waved. Herrior and Dan did as they were told.

"I've got a day's wage on you. You best this soldier in a friendly duel, first one to disarm the other and make the other yield wins."

"I do not see how this affects me?" Herrior asked.

"Think of it as amusement for the King's soldiers, squire! Toss us two training swords!" The soldier yelled out.

"Right away sir!" a young lad said excitedly.

"I only wished to help, I didn't mean for it to lead to a duel." Herrior said.

"I can't imagine you have never picked up a blade before…win this duel and I'll give ya half of the winnings." The guard that started the duel said.

"If I win the battle, I'll take your money and you go back to the cave that you came from." The stubborn guard said and tossed Herrior a wooden sword. Herrior tried to catch it but fumbled with it for awhile as it dropped to the ground. He picked it up quickly and nodded all the while the stubborn guard was laughing.

"Just relax and watch his moves and counter them with your sword. Aim for his hand and give it a good smack to disarm him." The guard rooting for him said. Herrior moved his weight back and forth nervously. Dan wondered how long Herrior would keep up the act. He stayed back a ways and just watched.

The stubborn guard lunged towards Herrior as Herrior instinctively parried his attack, twirled his sword so that Herrior's was on bottom and then flicked hard up on it. The guard's sword flew into the air as Herrior's blade lightly touched his opponent's neck. The other guard exploded in laughter.

"How…how did you do that?" The stubborn guard asked in pure shock.

"Beginner's luck, here's your sword." Herrior said pulling his sword back. He flipped the sword over so that the handle was pointing towards the guard. He took it and threw it away. He turned to the guard and yelled "You tricked me!"

"You tricked him…he came into town asking for a job and put you in your place. Give me my winnings."

"You have just made an enemy…you had better sleep with your eyes open…" the stubborn guard said and tossed the other guard two gold coins.

"Or what? He'll best you in his sleep?" The guard called out laughing. He turned to Herrior and gave him the coins. "Take this and go buy some bread, this was worth the entertainment. You can't just walk into town though and expect to get a job as a guard. If you are passing through won't get hired because you aren't party of the kingdom. I'd suggest some picking up some scraps in the blacksmith shops, or construction with some of the houses. Take care of yourself, and I wouldn't worry much about him...all I have to do is spread word of what happened to the local folk, he won't have the nerve to show his face to even come to his post."

"Thank you, and thank you for the advice. I will heed it and take my leave at once." Herrior said and then smiled at him and turned to leave.

Something suddenly struck the guard's mind, a thought that his general had told his guards earlier.

"Are you any good at witch hunting?" The guard asked.

Herrior turned around and replied "I wouldn't know what to look for, I can be taught though."

"Are you afraid of them and their witchcraft?"

"I fear only that I can see and touch…voices and chanting doesn't scare me." Herrior said.

"There's a bounty out there for witches. Not many are signing up for the witch hunts…there's money in signing up and returning – even if we don't find any witches. Interested?" The guard offered. He had a hint of fear in his voice but tried to hide it.

"I've bounty hunted before it's nothing new for me. Brought in dozens of fugitives, they are more of my specialty. Never tracked a witch before, how do you know when you track one and find out if it's a witch?" Herrior inquired.

"That's for the church to decide I just follow orders. I can get pictures of our most wanted if you think you can track them down?" The guard asked intrigued.

"I would appreciate it. Generally you have two different types of fugitives, those that vanish and never come back and those that stick around, mayhap even in the kingdom itself. Their families and friends keep them hidden. They don't vanish like the smarter ones. If you were wanted the smartest thing you could do is cut all ties and ride in one direction as far as your horse lets you, and then you get another and keep riding. Those fugitives are generally never caught, but the ties are hard to break. My friend and I can get the ones that are still within the kingdom, however tracking down witches sounds simple enough." Herrior said and thumbed over his shoulder at Dan. The guard nodded at him as he walked forward.

"And you say you are good at tracking them down?" The guard's intentions were bluntly obvious and so were Herrior's to Dan who had to hide a smile from watching how simple it was to manipulate a person.

"You any good at keeping secrets?" The guard's voice dropped and he slowly became aware of the people around him.

"Nobody knows me…I don't know anybody, nobody knows each other's business and I prefer to keep it that way, what do you have in mind?" Herrior asked.

"I have to go report in. There's a tavern right over there. I'm willing to share what information I know and if you can catch the crooks…well I figure we can both make a profit. What do you say? If you are as good at finding fugitives as you are at sword fighting then I recon we can do some business. Name's Matthew." Matthew said extending his hand.

"Herrior…nice talking to you but I need something to wet my whistle. Tell your friend to keep practicing his swordplay." Herrior said in a louder voice shaking his hand and then walking away. Both parties walked away satisfied. Matthew walked over to the barracks with the visions of gold pouches in his mind. Herrior and Dan walked away knowing that they had their foot in the door. Now all they need to do was open it further…and if they catch some bad guys along the way then that wouldn't be bad.

"So…you four are claiming to be travelling doctors? Sounds like gypsies to me…we don't deal with gypsies, move along now." A male doctor said. Lindel, Skyka, Jacklyn and Mohania at the same time moved to the various different doctors trying to find jobs. This was their last one. The next doctor that they heard about was an elder woman about a three hour walk round-trip and they would not be back in time to follow the sun out of the kingdom. They were currently discussing whether their options as the door slammed shut in their face and they walked away.

"I'll go. Tell Herrior what has happened and I will meet up with the rest of you as soon as I can." Jacklyn said.

"I don't think that is going to work out Jacklyn, can you stitch a wound or compress an artery to stop the blood flow? I have to be the one to go." Skyka said.

"You can teach me."

"I can't teach you everything I know, what if something comes up that I missed? It's got to be me."

"Or me…both of you are leaders and we can't lose either of you. I know just as much as you Skyka." Lindel said.

"Not going to get in on this argument Mohania?" Skyka asked.

"I take bodies apart…not real good at putting them back to together." Several people that heard him looked at him funny and hurried away.

"Wonderful…did you really have to ask him that Skyka?" Lindel asked as she turned around and said "He's a guard!"

"Look…this isn't getting us anywhere. My temper would probably get the best of me and obviously Mohania is out. I'll take him and we will walk the streets listening to people." Jacklyn said.

"I can hear more than both of you…" Lindel said.

"Sheesh…will you girls stop this? I'll send all of you to your rooms for the rest of the day! We've wasted nearly a whole day and listening to all of you bicker is making the day even more miserable. Skyka you go, I will go offer my assistance to the grave diggers and Lindel and Jacklyn can go help that little girl up there that just fell down. I will see all of you later…" Mohania said clearly upset and walked away. The three women looked forward and saw that a little girl had been bruised up somehow and her mother was holding her to try to comfort her.

"Did you hear that Lindel?" Jacklyn asked.

"Obviously not…" Lindel said.

"Mohania's right, this stops right now. Jacklyn I'm sorry. Lindel I'm sorry. We need to work as fighters. That girl was thrown from a cart. Jacklyn go help Lindel but try to find out where the cart went and why it happened, Lindel go tend to the child. I will make the trip to the elder woman." Skyka said softly and apologetically. Jacklyn and Lindel also apologized and then they departed.

"Hi little girl, my name is Lindel and I am a doctor" Lindel said as her and Jacklyn arrived at the spot.

"Can you heal my little girl? Please…I don't have much money…" the mother cried.

"Shh...you are scaring her. Let take a look." Lindel said. Lindel looked over the crying child of about eight years old that was crying hysterically. Lindel nodded her head at her mom with a smile and then quickly put the girl's distorted arm back in her shoulder joint and then quickly snapped her kneecap back in place. The girl cried out in pain and then slowly her cries grew softer as Lindel started bandaging her and singing to her. Jacklyn kept the crowd back.

After ten minutes the girl looked up at Lindel with an enormous smile despite the pain and asked "Are you an angel?" Lindel laughed and said "No dear I am not. You took a nasty tumble and you had some nasty bumps."

"You sing so beautifully…can you teach me to sing like that?" The girl asked.

"I sure can, if it is ok with your mother?" Lindel asked looking at the little girl as she gently ran her fingers through her hair. Lindel looked up at the mom and she had tears in her eyes and slowly nodded and made a grin.

"She is going to need a sling for her leg and arm until they heal. Her other cuts need to be washed out. Is there some place we can take her?" Lindel asked.

"Uh…my home I guess…shouldn't I take her to the doctor?" The mother asked.

"If that is your wish than I can help you take her there." Lindel said standing up and offering her hands to help her up.

"I can't afford it…I…can get the money though…" the mother said and looked away. Her face grew white and suddenly very sick.

"Let's decide that after we get her home. She would probably rather be in her bed then a scary doctor's bed huh?" Lindel asked leaning back down and gently stroked the child's head.

"And teach me to sing!" The child said.

"I hate to turn down a potential student…what do you say? We won't stay for dinner we will be on our way before then so…"

"No no…the least I could do is cook you a meal. I insist." The mother said getting up. Her right leg obviously was injured as she grimaced in pain trying to get on her feet. Jacklyn rushed over and lifted them both up with ease.

"Thank you the mother said." Jacklyn held on not knowing if her legs were going to support her or not as she held on to her daughter.

"Which way is your home?" Lindel asked.

"A ways away, if you don't mind the walk…" the mother said and told them the directions. Jacklyn walked the whole distance with an arm around the mother carrying most of her body weight. Lindel continued to sing which brought a smile to the child's face.

Upon arrival Lindel opened the door and Jacklyn walked them into the house as Lindel shut the door.

"Thank you…both of you so much. Nobody has ever treated me this way before…not even my parents." The mother said as she laid her child down on her bed.

"Alright now let's get you in bed as well so I can take a look at that leg." Lindel said.

"I'm ok…take care of my daughter" the mother tried to say in-between coughs and moans.

"Nope…doctor's orders. Jacklyn can you help her to her bed?" Lindel asked as Jacklyn moved in the direction.

"But…dinner…"

"Dinner can wait. Jacklyn take a look at her leg and tell me what you see." Lindel said.

"That isn't necessary…I'll be fine, it's been worse."

"What about that cough?" Jacklyn asked helping her take off her torn dress.

"Just a little dust is all."

"Prop up her head; make sure it is higher than her chest. Listen to her chest and tell me what you hear." Lindel said.

"Leave me alone…tend to my daughter." The mom said upset.

"She's sleeping right now. Her body is healing nicely. She also hasn't caught the plaque yet." Lindel said covering her up with her new arm and leg spring.

"Don't tell anybody! Please! I'll do anything!" The mom became nearly hysterical. Jacklyn quickly put a hand over her mouth and pushed her back in bed.

"Rest…relax yourself…we are not here to make the people of this town afraid of either of you. The child is going to need her mother to be healthy and to be around to teach her how to become a woman. Now just relax and let me listen to your lungs." Lindel said calmly walking over to her.

"Are…are you a witch?" She whispered.

"No" Lindel whispered back with a smile.

"If you are I swear I won't tell anybody" again whispered back.

"We aren't witches…why are we whispering?" Lindel asked gently removing her shirt. Jacklyn found a blanket to help cover her up.

"You healed my child and now you claim to be able to heal me…that's impossible."

"You're child's arm had separated from her shoulder and had lodged itself in such a way that it was pinching her outer skin. I merely put it back into place. The same for her leg. It is not healed it will take about a month to be completely healed. Her bones need to mend themselves back together. As I said, I am a doctor. Now take a deep breath and hold it as long as you can." Lindel explained and then waited for her to do as she asked. The mother was confused and it was obvious that Lindel was a doctor. She took in a deep breath and held it. Lindel put her ear down on the woman's chest in-between her breasts and listened. The mother was only able to hold it for about twenty seconds before she had a coughing spell. Lindel moved back and helped her lean over her bed. The woman coughed up some red and yellow flem.

She stopped and saw what Lindel was looking at. "That's not good…is it?"

"There is liquid in your lungs, your flesh is hot, you are sweating from your brow and you are weak. I suspect you got the plaque from the leg wound. It looks like it has been infected for a long time now. How is your pain tolerance?" Lindel asked.

"Do what needs to be done…" the mother said.

"Jacklyn get her something to bite down onto and then start boiling some water. Close all of the doors and windows." Lindel said.

"Are you going to cut off my leg?" The mother asked with a new found fear.

"No…your leg is just infected. It doesn't look like the infection has spread. I am going to have to open the wound and clean it out. Most of your skin and tissue is dead so it is going to feel weird, but I might knick some tissue and skin that is still alive and that will send spikes of pain up your body. I am going to clean clothes and a piece of rope." Lindel explained.

"Are…you going to heal me?"

"I'm going to clean out the infection – what you do with it afterwards will determine if it heals up or not. I'm also going to induce a strong cough in your chest as the hot steam enters your lungs. Do you have any garlic, goldenseal, Echinacea, or licorice?"

"I have an old clove of garlic in the cupboard…I don't know if it is any good to eat."

"That will work. I will need the sharpest knife you have also." Lindel said. The mother started to name off where everything was and how to light the stove as well as where the fresh water was. Lindel sterilized all of the items first and had Jacklyn clean off the small molded piece of garlic and boiled it for only a minute. Jacklyn then cut it up into tiny pieces and made the mother eat all of it. She gagged on it, but forced it down. Jacklyn made a small makeshift table and put a small bowl of hot water on it as the mother put her face over it with a blanket over her. Jacklyn would change out the hot water every five minutes to keep the vapor going into her lungs. Lindel explained what she was going to do before she did it and then tied off the tourniquet. She made the first cut and the mom let out a quick scream before biting down on the cloth. Lindel proceeded to clean out the wound. It only took five minutes before Lindel had the mother spin around so that Lindel could wash the wound and then bandage it up but left the tourniquet on.

"I feel hot…" the mother said.

"Your body is finally able to start fighting the infection in your lungs. Keep taking deep breaths over the hot water. Do you have any more garlic or know of anybody that has some?" Lindel asked.

"Is there an evil spirit inside of me?"

"No, garlic is used to treat many ailments. Can you still taste the garlic?"

"Yes"

"And when you breathe can you feel it on your breath?"

The mom thought for a minute and then said "I do…am I breathing that into my chest?"

"Yes you are. This is doing several different jobs. It is helping you fight the infection from eating it and breathing it. How long can you hold your breath now without coughing?" Lindel asked and handed the bowl of water to Jacklyn. The mother tried and this time there was no coughing spell. She held it as long as she could and then finally let go. She looked up at Lindel as Lindel smiled at her.

"I…can breathe…but how? My leg?" The mom realized and then looked down at it. It was still wrapped up but the bleeding had stopped and she started poking at it. It felt stronger now.

"Careful, the wounds aren't closed up yet. We are going to need a crutch for you and your daughter for at least two weeks. It is your fever that broke the infection. Everything was done naturally…no witchcraft was done…" Lindel said jokingly looking at her.

"You are a doctor…the King must hear of this!"

"No…he must not. We are travelers only here for a short time and then we will move on. The last thing we want to do is be ruled by anybody. We come and go as we please. What time is it becoming Jacklyn?" Lindel asked.

"What…why?"

"We are meeting up with the rest of our party at sunset. We aren't going to sleep in the kingdom." Jacklyn said walking over to the window.

"Are all of you doctors? Are you gypsies?"

"No and no…we merely do as we please. We live by our own rules is all, actually God's rules. We come together at night to pray and to speak with one another about what we have learned. As far as I know doctors and gypsies aren't liked much by people who love God and pray to him…also witches don't do that either…" Lindel said and winked at her finishing up her talk.

"You pray outside of the church?"

"'Wherever two are gathered…there I will be also' Matthew 18:20. You don't have to be in a church to pray." Jacklyn said and then looked at Lindel and nodded indicating it was time that they left.

"Wait…stay here tonight. My house is small buy your party is welcome. Please." The mother pleaded.

"You and your child are safe and need some sleep. Make sure you sleep with your head above your chest. You have both been through a lot today. Get some sleep and we will return in the morning." Lindel said covering her up and making sure that her head was well above her chest.

"I…cannot repay you…"

"We haven't asked for payment, nor will we. We must take our leave. Let sleep overtake you and we will be back tomorrow." Jacklyn said.


	6. Chapter 6

That night as Herrior's party came together as planned and they had much to discuss, but Skyka had not returned yet and Trackolania seemed eager to say something but nobody was looking at him.

Finally Lindel said she sensed Skyka was running towards them. All of them were sick of their disguises that their trinkets made them into and had switched back to their normal self. They equipped their weapons and prepared themselves to strike at whatever Skyka was running from.

"She's alone…" Lindel finally announced and they put their weapons away. Several minutes later Skyka came up and said "Sorry I was late…ran the last couple of miles…woman talked my ear off, but she refused our help as well…where's Mohania?" Suddenly a skeleton hand reached out from the ground and grabbed Skyka's foot.

"How long has he been waiting to do that?" Skyka asked patting on Mohania's hand as he flicked her off. He dug his way out of the ground and asked "You were scared weren't you?"

"Terrified…so catch me up and why does it look like Trackolania hasn't taken a piss all day?" Skyka asked and sat down.

"Is there something wrong Trackolania?" Herrior asked.

Trackolania pulled out a dagger and quickly wrote the word "Thrall" in the dirt.

"Thrall…d? You are thralled about something?" Mohania asked.

"No…he was once a leader…but that was a very long time ago. He helped establish dominance of the Horde in the land of the Alliance. Is that who you are talking about?" Herrior asked. Trackolania nodded.

"Where is he at?" Herrior asked and Trackolania quickly drew a box around his name and then put vertical lines on it.

"Locked up? How?" Herrior asked. Trackolania washed away the designs in the dirt and then wrote "Alliance" and then drew an arrow towards the kingdom.

"Whoa…talk about an unexpected surprise! I'm going to go start my work…" Mohania said.

"Sit…" Herrior said.

"How do you know all of this Trackolania?" Jacklyn asked. Trackolania pulled out a letter and handed it to her. She red it:

"Dear rogue,

My life is in your hands. The Keepers of Time have abandoned me. Their forces are too weak to free me. I have been ripped from my time and placed in this cell. Everything is unknown to me…I even fear eating the food. I have not had any threats of torture or interrogation and the same alliance soldier comes to me every night to feed me this slop. If you could free me from durnholde keep and find a way to return me to my time I would give you anything you want. I don't even know how many suns or moons there are…let alone help you with this task, but all I know is I do not belong here. My life is in your hands –Thrall."

"Interesting…" Herrior said. Jacklyn handed the note to Herrior to read. "Orc handwriting…I have no reason to doubt it." Herrior wadded it up and tossed it at Mohania. Mohania held out his hand and incinerated the note. "It appears we have a new mission. Trackolania how hard is it going to be to spring him from his cell?" Trackolania shook his head.

"Who are these Keepers of time?" Herrior asked. Suddenly a small fairy appeared and laughed "Keepers of time is us…we are…that is us…weee!"

"I despise little fairies…hold still while I burn off your wings!" Mohania said.

"Who are you?" Herrior asked.

"I am Chromie…that is me…weee!" Chromie said doing a roll in the air holding her feet and giggling.

"Chromie – why is Thrall here?" Herrior asked.

"I don't know…but it isn't right…not it isn't…he needs to go back back back! Bye bye!" Chromie said and vanished.

"I'm going to fry that little woman! Where did she go?" Mohania asked igniting himself on fire.

"We need some help…and I'm not sure what to do from here. Dan head back and speak with our Chronomancers and lore writers. Find out what our scrolls have on them and the rest of us will figure out a plan." Herrior said. Dan nodded and suddenly vanished from sight.

"Trackolania, do they have hellhounds?" Herrior asked. Trackolania nodded.

"I'm out then…" Lindel said.

"Can you pick the lock?" Herrior asked. Trackolania shook his head.

"Well he's out then" Mohania said.

"But you can get to him?" Trackolania nodded.

"We will need to possess the master guard…"

"Can't if he's Alliance" Lindel said.

"And then get him to give us the keys. We take the keys and go through the jail cells until we find him…" Trackolania shook his head indicating that wasn't possible.

"Then we'll snag the orc and walk him right out."

"Casually walking through an alliance stronghold with an orc…shouldn't be a problem if you don't mind dying…" Jacklyn said.

"Good, well we got a plan then. Everybody get some shut eye then and we'll break him out first thing in the morning." Herrior said lying down.

The party talked among themselves quietly for awhile until Dan suddenly reappeared. "Tranquil is fine – Kon and Tess are doing a great job as the new King and Queen. They don't have any more clues about the other crystals that were stolen. Apparently Durnholde Keep was assaulted with Thrall in it…however this isn't Durnholde Keep, this is a big friggin' kingdom! Keeps are small…kingdoms are big…" Dan showed by using his hands to illustrate his point.

"Any word on the little fuzzy fairy 'Crappy' and her Keepers of Time?" Mohania asked.

"Nothing…no mention of her anywhere, however given our circumstances we should probably take her at her word…so don't eat her yet." Dan said.

"I'm not making any promises…" Mohania said.

"So what are our plans for tomorrow?" Skyka asked.

"Wake up…scavenge around for some food and see where we are led. Trackolania divide up your loot and food that you stole today." Herrior said.

"So…just watch? No plan or anything?" Jacklyn asked as Trackolania passed out dozens of gold coins and food.

"A plan will come…just pray he isn't killed and we can get to him first." Herrior said closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Quinely what is the fastest way out of the kingdom from the dungeons?" Jacklyn asked.

"There is a river running through the middle…it's absolutely disgusting though, it reeks of death and disease."

"I'll go there…I'm immune to both." Veliline said.

"I have yet to contract a disease and I'm already dead – I'll go with Veliline." Mohania said.

"It's not bad if you go upstream from the west. Far for me to judge these people…but most of the water that they are getting is not fresh…as in they are probably drinking their neighbors piss, blood and shit. There are only six major wells in town." Quinely said.

"I wasn't touching their water without boiling it first! I didn't know this information but all I knew was it stunk. Why don't these people move out of the town and live on farms?" Skyka asked.

"Taxes and fear of death. You can control people by taking away their money, by paying raiders to kill those that do the very thing you said, and by fear of witches." Herrior said.

"Yeah these people seem to be scared of their own shadow for fear that a witch might jump out of it and turn them into a toad…I don't understand what is so bad about witches?" Skyka asked.

"Fear…ignorance…the leaders can control the people and corral them around like cattle on the range. Same with the church, their clerics and clergymen 'Pay me a tax to keep away the boogeyman…no pay me the tax and worship me and I will tell you who is good and who is bad…'" Herrior said.

"Yeah…welcome to our world in the early years…" Dan said sounding ashamed.

"Your people are stupid in your time…but they seem to be kicking it up a couple of notches though in this time. So when exactly did your people go from cowering in the corner with weak metal to cowering in the corner with a gun?" Mohania asked.

"Don't know…history was not one of my better subjects. They learned how to hurt people from a distance rather than with swords or even with a bow. How about I just go into the kingdom and summon an earthquake and destroy the dungeons?" Dan asked.

"If I remember correctly about this thing called gravity, you know that force that pulls down the things that are destroyed and Thrall is in the bowels of the dungeons. At least you are thinking though…where's that trophy rock at?" Mohania asked looking around.

"We're going to have to join forces with the alliance…" Skyka said.

"Not an option!" Jacklyn said quickly.

"We need to infiltrate the dungeons…how else are we going to get Thrall out?"

"I will not fight for the alliance!" Jacklyn said even louder.

"Relax everybody…we don't know what is in store for us tomorrow and we don't know what awaits us. We don't know anything…let tomorrow play out as it will and we will have more information about what we need to do. It was just the other night we doubted we were even in the right place. Lay down and clear your minds. Go to sleep and let today's troubles dissolve into the night. Tomorrow has its own troubles and we will address them at that time. Right now we have dissention among our ranks and troubled minds. We have only survived over the years by loving each other, now don't go to sleep angry but with a clear conscious." Herrior said. The party agreed and talked softly until they fell asleep.

The next morning Julie stayed at the camp and wanted to explore the area to find a better place to sleep at night. Veliline and Quinely went to go map out the sewers and the entire river. Dan and Herrior went to go meet up with Matthew again. Lindel and Jacklyn brought Skyka with them to the mother's house with some things that they bought in the market.

"Mommy! Mommy the angel is back!" The little girl recognized them from dozens of yards away through the swarm of people. Her leg was wrapped up as well as her arm. She had a wooden stick to walk with but none of that let down her spirits. Everybody turned to look at who the little girl was pointing to. Lindel excitedly ran over to her and lifted her up and spun her around in the air.

"I'm flying! Just like the angels mommy!" The girl cried excitedly.

"I'm not an angel, but I have the heart of one maybe…most of the time I hope anyways…" Lindel said cheerfully going along with what the girl was saying. There was no point in correcting the child but playing on the child's imagination was the only option. Her mom stood at the doorway with her arms crossed and leaning against the doorway with a smile that she had never smiled in a very long time. She laughed and cried tears of happiness watching Lindel play with her baby girl.

Skyka and Jacklyn eventually made it to them. Jacklyn felt her hand squeezed and looked down. Nobody was there as her hand was made into a fist with her pointer finger sticking out and pointed towards the inner sanctum. Jacklyn looked back down at her hand and nodded. It was Trackolania telling Jacklyn where he was going to be.

"She brought another doctor! Mommy we are going to be well in no time now!" The girl said excitedly.

"I'm just a friend, my name is Skyka." Skyka said and put a hand on her chest and bowed slightly.

"Just like the Sky! Isn't that right mommy?"

"Just like the sky that's right." Skyka said just now making the connection that was part of her name.

"They brought us presents as well…let's see what you have! I hope there's a dolly!"

Jacklyn knew something was not right. She quickly looked around to check her surroundings as discreetly as possible.

"Simeul! What did I tell you this morning?" The mother said sternly.

"But they did momma, I prayed last night that they would return with presents…"

"How does that child know that?" A guard asked walking up to them.

"I whispered it to her last night before we left. She was sleeping, I doubted that she heard me but apparently she did." Lindel said as she pulled out a dolly from her pocket and gave it to Simeul. She squealed in excitement and gave it a big hug.

"That child was hurt last night – I expected her to be on the death wagons this morning, how is she still alive?"

"I bet I can slice him into a dozen pieces before he blinks…" Jacklyn said in her mind and started to move into an attack position.

"Her name is Simeul and we helped her last night after she had fallen off from the cart. Nobody around had the time of day to stop and offer to help! I am a doctor and have been turned down by every clinic in this town when I was trying to get a job yesterday! Shame on them, shame on all of you and shame on you especially for having a disgraceful tongue! She is a child and nobody even blinked when she was crying in pain! I hope for your children's sakes that I am around if they get hurt because none of your friends or neighbors are going to help! Now get out of here!" Lindel said. She had established a psychic link with the guard and paralyzed his mind as she probed him for information as she yelled at everybody. She quickly searched him as fast as she could as she waited for him to speak. Finally she broke the link and caused a massive headache in the man's head. The guard took off his helmet and put his hand to his head and started rubbing it.

"I'd go to confession…all of you! Confess what you did and apologize to this poor family. If any of you have a conscious you will bring them food or cloth, but as for now we are going to assess their condition this morning and have breakfast with them." Lindel said. The smiling mom hopped out of the way as Simeul was escorted in by Lindel followed by Skyka and Jacklyn last. Jacklyn still wanted to spill the man's blood…or anybody else's at this point in time, but she let her rage inside of her start to diminish.

"That was quite the speech Lindel, but I'm afraid it won't do any good. If you are looking for a good neighbor, you are in the wrong kingdom for that…" the mother said hobbling over to the stove to start a fire.

"I'll rip off every limb they have and throw their bloody torso into the river and watch them flailing around as they try to swim and slowly drown in the water!" Jacklyn said. The house became very quiet and everybody was looking at her.

"Sorry…I was out of line. Perhaps I should wait outside." Jacklyn said and walked outside before anybody could say anything.

"She didn't get much sleep last night, but anyways we brought some food and medicine. Here's some money as well." Lindel said pulling everything out of her pockets and setting them down on the stove.

"That's more food then we eat in a week!" the mother exclaimed.

"It's all yours. We're going to go on a hunting trip later in the country and will bring back what we kill." Skyka said.

"On the King's land? You will be killed on sight for doing that!"

"Naw…we're further out then what the King owns. Now how are you feeling?" Lindel asked.

"I'm scared for your lives…" the mother said obviously worried.

"Can't live in fear…it will consume you and prevent you from living the life you were meant to live. Have some cheese." Skyka said.

"Two people were caught last night and accused of practicing witchcraft! If word gets out about what you did to me…"

"Then what? We healed you using hot water, removing the infected tissue and fed you garlic soup…how is that witchcraft?" Lindel asked.

"People have been burned at the stack for doing less…" the mother said giving her child as much food as she wanted.

Jacklyn opened the door and said "Here's some bread, cloth, fresh goat's milk and several shillings. Also the guard is talking to a man on a horse. I'll stop them from entering."

"Jacklyn…" Lindel said smiling as if she were joking around. Jacklyn took the hint and smiled back as she closed the door.

"I…have no words…what you have done for me and my daughter has been nothing short of a miracle. However I must return the favor now…they will come for you. You are not with the church so practicing medicine without the blessing of the priest is considered blasphemy. Leave while you can…quickly!" the mother said.

"Step aside woman! Know your place!" a loud voice boomed from outside. Suddenly the horse started creating a ruckus and started bucking the rider.

"Stay safe…I'm afraid our time to leave has come." Lindel said and with that she and Skyka left the house. Jacklyn was holding a small wooden staff and was preparing to impale the knight.

"Welcome! Have you come to donate to the mother and the child as well?" Lindel asked.

"Have you committed the offense of healing the daughter of this whore?" The knight asked regaining control of his horse.

"Her body isn't healed, but her bones are set back into their proper places. It will take time for her body to mend itself…probably a month before she is fully healed up." Lindel said.

"So you did or did not heal her last night?" The knight asked.

"It's not a yes or no question. Did I reset her slipped bones? Yes. Is she healed? No." Lindel said.

"Don't play tricks with me woman! I'll have you locked up and beaten! Are you a witch?" The knight asked.

"No, I am not a witch. I saw a child fall and was screaming in pain. I came to her aid and relieved the pressure that her bones were causing her…"

"Silence! You speak the words of a doctor…you three come with me!" the knight said.

"Being educated confuses the brawny with swords and armor?" Jacklyn asked. The knight turned his horse around and pulled out his sword. Jacklyn tossed her stick away and walked towards him until the blade was pushing on her throat. "Make the first move…" Jacklyn said calmly staring into his eyes.

The knight backed off and put his sword away. His helmet hid his scared look. Nobody ever stood up to him before, but he figured the odds of him waking up tomorrow alive would be better if he put his sword away. Besides he had higher orders.

"Come with me" the knight said and clicked his heels together as his horse started a slow walk.

They walked through the entrance of the inner kingdom and towards the castle. Jacklyn wondered where Trackolania was right now. Her fate didn't matter, but his did. No matter what happened he had to survive. He stood the best chance of getting Thrall out of the cell better than the rest of them. She still walked constantly calculating her attack strategy if something were to happen. Lindel on the other hand was skipping lively with a big smile on her face. Perhaps she knew something that she didn't.

"Do you have any weapons on you?" The knight asked as he dismounted his horse.

"I have the perkiest breasts in the kingdom! I bet I could use them for fighting if I had too." Lindel said and pushed them up against the knight. Jacklyn rolled her eyes but it worked. Jacklyn didn't have to lie; technically Skyka wouldn't have to as well.

"Let's go" the knight said as led them into the castle. Lindel looked around in amazement and pointing out how lovely everything was, she was playing her role perfectly. Skyka seemed to be mapping out the location in her mind as Jacklyn was doing as well. If they had to escape quickly she wanted to know the right location to go.

"What is this about?" Skyka asked.

"Nothing I am at liberty to speak of right now. You will simply be quiet and follow us." The knight said and waved over some more guards to follow them.

Jacklyn started going over tactics to kill them quickly if something went wrong. Lindel established a mental link with the other two and said "The knight is taking us to see the king. He has orders to bring all of those professing to be a doctor to be brought before the king. He doesn't know why himself, but he knows he has seen many doctors leave the king with no problems."

"I'm pretty sure I can kill all of them in two seconds…" Jacklyn said in her mind.

"Jacklyn – we are not here to kill!" Skyka said in her mind. It snapped Jacklyn out of her thinking as she said "Oh…sorry was just thinking. Trackolania is somewhere in this castle right now. See if you can establish a link with him" in her mind.

"Stop right here." The knight said. He turned around and said "we are not allowed beyond this point. Go down the hallway to the door at the far end. If you are what you claim you are, you will be handsomely rewarded. If you fail you will be shunned like the rest of the doctors. We will wait here."

"Solid rocks…almost like marble…look at these walls and the stain glass in beautiful!" Lindel said keeping up with her charade.

The three of them walked quickly down the hallway and Skyka knocked on the door.

"Who goes there?" It was the King's deep commanding voice.

"We are three travelling doctors and we were brought here for some reason…to be judged as witches I'm assuming." Skyka said.

The door opened and several guards quickly rushed them in the room and shut the door behind them. Jacklyn was sure the guards touched one of her massive swords but he didn't seem to take notice. "Hurry, this way!" the King said.

"What is wrong my King?" Skyka asked.

"You are not from my kingdom and I am not your king so do not address me as such. Call me George Gallant the twelfth. My wife and daughter have fallen ill and I will pay any price to have their health returned to them. Name your price." The king said.

"We don't want anything and I can't promise you anything because I do not know their conditions." Skyka said. The king flung open the heavy wooden doors and there were two women, one the king's age and one about Lindel's age. They were both naked lying on their backs with tiny black eel looking things on their backs. There were four women tending to their needs and six men that looked sophisticated. The three of them assumed they were the smartest doctors or claiming to be.

"What in the name of all that is good in this world are you doing to these women?" Skyka practically screamed as she rushed over to the queen.

"They are leeches my good lady, they are draining the bad blood from their bodies."

"If you believe that then you are an idiot! Not only where you hit with the stupid branch but you must have fallen down the tree and hit every branch on the way down! You are killing them! Look at this leech!" Skyka said gently pulling up on one of them. It was horribly disfigured and had spots of green and yellow around it. "It's diseased! You put a diseased leech on this woman! So not only is her body fighting its own disease, it is also trying to fight off the infection in this leech! Tell me you asshole, is all of her blood bad? If that's the case, why not just drain her of her life's blood! The blood is what keeps us alive and you are draining the nutrients in it that her body needs to fight off her infection!" Skyka spun around and said "George Gallant the twelfth they are poisoning your wife and daughter! They have the same plague that my sister here helped cure in one of your subjects and asked for nothing in return. Look at your wife! Look at your daughter! They are suffering, their bodies are pale, they are sweating and by the smell of it their urine is tainted. If you want any chance of your wife and child living then get these assholes out of here and let me do my work."

"Such allegations from a lowly peasant, what do you know of medicine?" A doctor said walking up behind her.

"So touch me or even breath on me and I will make you eat your own testicles!" Skyka yelled out at the man. Jacklyn reached behind her for her swords when the king said "Stop! Everybody! You men have not cured them and I have not even seen one bit of progress that you have made with them." The king said.

"My king – they are witches…"

"Silence! Interrupt me one more time and I will have your tongue cut out! At this point I would take a witch over a man of the cloth or a 'self-proclaimed' doctor that you call yourselves. Guards – place them under house arrest!" The king said. The guards drew their swords and walked over to the doctors who immediately put up their hands as the guards motioned them to leave, to which they complied.

Once they were gone Skyka said "Jacklyn go get all of the leeches off from the child's body, Lindel get some water boiling and get some boiled cloth ready. I will attend to the queen. This is utter madness…" Skyka said in a hurried voice. Jacklyn stopped pretending to itch her back with her hands and rushed over. Lindel rushed over to the stove and said "The water is putrid, I will need fresh water…wait a minute" Lindel said and dipped her finger in the water and then smelled it. "This is sulfur! George Gallant the twelfth why are you boiling sulfur water?"

"The doctors said for them to drink this every four hours, why?"

"It's a toxin that's why! Skyka we need to flush their bodies completely." Lindel said.

"Utter madness…" Skyka said in a voice that suggested that she was completely disgusted with what they had done.

"Toxin…flush…what are you talking about?" The king asked.

"The doctors were poisoning your wife and child. I'm going to dump this water and get some new. Where are the watershed and the fresh water?" Lindel asked.

"This way…let me get that" the king said grabbed the pot of water and walked away with it. "Mid-wives – get some fresh water and stoke that fire! Get them anything that they need. I will be back as soon as possible."

"Open those windows and let's get them in the sunlight first of all, help me move this bed." Skyka said and soon the king's bedroom was a flurry of activities.

Ten minutes later the king came with two guards carrying huge pots of fresh water. "If you can prove that they poisoned my wife and daughter I will behead them, what did you do to my room?"

"The sunlight will bring back their color in their skin and it will also speed up their healing. I need the following foods, berries – cleaned but not cooked, melons, garlic, cider, ginger, raw carrots and cabbage, again cleaned but not cooked. I need one pot of cold water place between their beds and another brought to just a boil and then removed from the fire. I will need several chamber pots brought in and their beds cleaned daily. I want the windows opened during the day when the sunlight comes in. If at all possible, boiling the water in a room other than this one and bring the water in when it is ready." Lindel said quickly looking the king straight in his eyes and named off everything. The king was overwhelmed and started delegating jobs quickly. Lindel helped him remember some of the things. The king then walked up to Lindel very closely and whispered quietly in her ear "are they going to live?"

Lindel turned around and whispered "Too soon to tell, but I'm going to give them a fighting chance. We'll know more by morning."

Skyka suddenly felt something wrong. She looked up at Jacklyn at the same time she realized it as well. "My king there is something in or around this room that is causing pain, I can feel it. What is going on here?" Skyka asked and stood up as Jacklyn did the same.

The king tried to hide what he knew and mouthed a couple of words but didn't know what to say.

"What's more important, your wife and daughter's life or this secret that you are hiding?" Jacklyn asked.

"I…of course they are…I can't say though…" the king said still caught in-between feeling guilt and fear.

"We can help them but whatever it is that is making them sick will continue to do so." Lindel said.

"Come with me…the rest of you get the rest of those leeches off and cleanse the wounds with cool water. Look for any infection that they may have caused and tend to it. Then give both of them a full bath with the cool water." Skyka said and then grabbed a hold of the king's arm and pulled him out into the hallway. She shut the doors and then threw him against the wall and said "You had better tell me what it is that is more important than the lives of your wife and daughter! You are not only endangering them, but you are endangering your entire kingdom and I can see it in your eyes. What is it?" Skyka screamed the last part at the king.

The king looked surprised; nobody had ever spoken to him like this before. Normally it would have been because he sentenced a beheading of somebody. This time he stood accused and he was the guilty one and he knew it. He was the one on the hangman's gallows with the noose around his neck…or so he wished, an escape from doing what had done. He sighed and dropped his shoulders.

"My king! Release him at once!" A guard said drawing his sword and running towards him. The king put himself in front of Skyka to protect her and said "You did not see this! If you speak any word of what happened in I will behead you myself!"

"But my king…"

"Get thee out of my sight or so help me I will make your death as painful as possible!" The king yelled. The guard put away his sword and ran away.

The king turned around and said "two nights ago a strange man came into my kingdom…was dressed in all red like a night gown and had pointed ears. He said his life was in danger and promised untold wealth and longevity if I were to hide an item until he returns."

"And by longevity you me a slow miserable death…" Skyka said.

"I didn't know…heaven help me I did not know! He gave me enough gold to buy three kingdoms and tens of thousands of soldiers…I have a feeling it was blood money…I curse the day he came wondering into my kingdom!" The King yelled.

"Where did he go?" Skyka asked.

"I don't know…

"Where did he go?" Skyka yelled at him.

"I don't know! I was too busy being greedy and looking at the golden items!" The king yelled and tore his robe.

"Damn it!" Skyka yelled and walked away a couple of steps. "Where is the item?" she finally asked.

"Hidden in our room…it is some sort of crystal – I've never seen it before. It's under several loose stones." The king answered crying.

"It has to go. I will take it away. I've dealt with these crystals before. They give off an aura that permeates even through stone. If the crystals power has been altered it has the power to destroy your kingdom and everybody in it." Skyka said.

"Take it! Take the devil's crystal and get rid of it. I believe you, I have seen your face but once in my life and so help me I trust you more than I trust my best knights or even my wife. The man promised to come back in a week to get it. He said if we don't have it, a demon will be released upon our kingdom that will manifest from our dungeons. Is he speaking the truth?" The king asked.

Skyka closed her eyes as the puzzle pieces came together. Thrall was the demon and the king had no idea he was even in his dungeon. The king had blinders on with witches casting curses and demons and the sicknesses of his beloved family that things were happening in his kingdom and he had no knowledge of it.

"There are traitors in your midst." Skyka whispered looking him directly in the face and walked closer to him "they have been working while you have had a turned eye to your own kingdom. My husband has been working with one of your guards to find criminals and collect the bounties on their heads within your walls. If this man returns he will open up Hell itself upon you and your people. Are your men battle ready?"

Fear again over took the king "What? Yes of course, but which direction shall I position them?"

"Apparently we don't know…you were too busy looking at your wealth!" Skyka yelled at him.

"I have doomed us all then…"

"Who escorted this man into your castle, or did he simply walk in and knock on your door?" Skyka asked.

"The same knight that escorted you in" the king then had an epiphany "He would know!"

"Find out which direction he went and keep it quiet! Only question those that you trust with your life. Also I will need complete access to your dungeons." Skyka said.

The king hesitated and said "Are you going to release any criminals?"

"I am going to look for a demon; I have no intentions of releasing any criminals. How you judged and sentenced the people is entirely up to you and your decisions. Send for my husband immediately – his name is Herrior and his brethren Dan. Bring them here and I will get in and out of your dungeon as fast as we can. I will return the keys within a day. In the mean time post guards around the clock and get your men ready. I need to return to your wife and child to help save their lives. Their battle right now will be just as intense as the battle you will face when this traitor comes back." Skyka said reminding him of his past decisions. The king nodded and thanked her as he left.


	7. Chapter 7

The king held up his end of the bargain as Lindel summoned Trackolania telepathically. He slipped in, grabbed the crystal and slipped out without anybody knowing he was there. Herrior and Dan came for a short time with the king as they spoke for a short time and then left with the dungeon keys. Lindel sent a telepathic message to Veliline and Mohania explaining the situation. They met up with Herrior and Dan who started making their way to rendezvous with Trackolania. He led them to Thrall's chamber and ran into a paladin. The five of them quickly dispatched him and Trackolania found a magical key that glowed. He gave it to Herrior as Veliline grabbed the dead paladin and they quickly moved down the corridor to Thrall's door.

"Thrall can you hear me?" Herrior asked.

"I can hear you, you do not have the voice of a human – what are you?" Thrall asked.

"Probably best if you don't know and not too much thought into it. You are in the wrong land and in the wrong time. We need to get you back so that our future can go forward. First we need to get you out of here." Herrior said as he unlocked the magically sealed door and it swung open. They looked at each other in shock and knew something was wrong.

"I will heed your advice…its best that we don't discuss much. How do we get out of here?" Thrall asked.

"We will take you through the sewers…not very pleasant but we found a way to get you out of here with minimal people seeing you. There are people coming after you and after us but getting you back to your time is the best thing for all of us." Herrior said.

"Are my orcs safe?" Thrall asked.

"I don't know but right now none of us are safe, we'll try to get you back to your world and time period. Are you able to walk?" Herrior asked.

"My wounds are not mortal; I will be able to keep up." Thrall said.

"Veliline take the lead and keep Thrall safe and out of sight. Mohania cast an illusion over Thrall to make him blend in. Keep the spell on him as long as you can. I will let Lindel know that we have him and the crystal. Trackolania you get out of here as fast as you can and meet up with Julie – keep that crystal safe at all costs!" Herrior said. Trackolania nodded and stealthed himself as he sprinted away. Veliline grabbed Thrall and started to run as Mohania began to chant a spell that turned him human at the same time Herrior said Lindel's name in his head.

"Yes master?" Lindel's giggling voice came into his head.

"We have Thrall and the crystal tie up any loose ends up there and get out of there." Herrior said.

"Easier said than done, the queen and princess are dying and we are on constant guard by the king and his soldiers. I don't see a way of us being able to leave." Lindel said in his mind.

"Work on it!" Herrior said back sharply.

"The traitors will come back to this kingdom and level it Herrior to find their crystal and Thrall." Lindel said back.

"Hmm…they were never part of the tampering of time and were involved involuntarily. Leaving them would mean certain death to tens of thousands of people…" Herrior thought in his head.

"I can erase our presence from a couple of minds but eventually somebody would figure it out." Lindel said.

"No that's not an option…speak with Skyka and Jacklyn and try to form a plan and I will do the same. For now just tell the king that a traitor was found among his ranks and we killed him. His body is probably ashes by now but his armor and weapons will still be there…" Herrior said and stopped in mid-run.

"Probably not a good thing to leave behind…" Lindel said.

"Yeah it would cause a lot of questions, I'm heading back." Herrior said aloud.

"What would?" Quinely asked.

"The dead paladin had armor on and it wasn't from this time period. Go with them and make sure they get out safe, I will be right back." Herrior said turning around and running back.

"Hurry!" Quinely said and turned back around and ran to catch up with everybody.

Herrior made it back to the cell and suddenly remember that the door was magically sealed. Quietly he cursed his lack of foresight as he slammed his fists into the door.

"What's going on down there?" A guard asked.

"I'm hitting a door!" Herrior replied back. Perhaps not the best thing to say however it came out.

"I'm coming down there!"

"Key…key…who had the key?" Herrior asked and then checked his pockets. He pulled out the dead paladin's key as well as the other keys to the dungeon. He pulled it out and quickly jammed it into the lock and flung the door open. Sure enough the armor was there with a pile of ashes. He grabbed everything and then flung the door shut.

"Who are you?" A guard demanded as Herrior felt the coldness of a blade near him. Herrior spun around, breaking off the magical key in the lock and it burned into ashes in his hand.

"Don't need that anymore anyways…" Herrior said quickly.

"Answer me!" the guard demanded.

Herrior let out a battle cry that vibrated the walls and caused the man's bones to shake inside of his body. He dropped his sword and ran away in fear.

"That's how taurens settle problems…" Herrior said and raced down the hallway and dropped back down into the sewers.

"Your husband's an idiot…" Lindel said.

"Tell me something I don't know." Skyka replied.

"Did they complete their mission?" Jacklyn asked.

"With some complications…but yes, they are following the sun." Lindel said.

The three of them were huddled together feeding both the queen and princess the fruit and vegetable paste that they made. Only the queen and princess heard what they said but didn't have the strength to ask what they were talking about nor were they able to hold the thought in their heads. Their wounds were cleansed and some color had come back into their bodies.

"Did you tell them that we won't be able to follow the sun tonight?" Skyka whispered.

"Herrior wants us to, but we need to come up with a plan." Lindel replied.

"We get up and walk away…" Jacklyn said.

"These people…" Lindel cleared her throat and created a mental link with both of them. "These people have been caught in the middle of our problem. If it wasn't for the traitors then they would have continued living, making babies and carrying on with their lives. This is Durnholde castle…not the keep. We have no records of what happens to this place in our timeline. These two might have died, yes, but the crystal was slowly killing them along with the plague. The crystal is tainted but it will not affect our health. Quinely or Dan should be able to cleanse it. However…Herrior encountered a paladin guarding Thrall, so at least some alliance are here – are they teamed up with the traitors? No way of telling."

"Isn't a 'keep' another word for a dungeon?" Jacklyn asked in her mind. The three of them thought about that for awhile as they continued to help the queen and princess eat the food paste and drink as much of the cooled of boiled water that they could.

"Let's assume that it is…so just the keep or dungeon is destroyed and Herrior successfully made the guard shit his drawers and most of the prisoners as well. Could that be considered an attack?" Lindel asked in her mind.

"Anything that big lug does could be considered an attack and technically Thrall did escape from it. I think we have just fulfilled the past. Thoughts?" Skyka asked in her mind.

"Hell at this point I'll take it, the question is how do we get out of here for when the traitors return?" Jacklyn asked.

"Jacklyn's right, if Herrior goes into battle they only have Dan and Quinely to heal and that will only last for about the first couple of minutes until they run out of mana. Also Jacklyn would become testy if she misses a battle." Skyka said in her mind.

"They already killed a paladin without me…" Jacklyn reminded them.

"We know for sure there is a blood elf. If I can possess his mind I can find out where the other crystals are. We need him and his party alive." Lindel said in her mind. She then became upset and said "I shouldn't even be here! I know who to look for – I can vanish and go find them!"

"What direction should you go in?" Skyka asked. Lindel sighed and settled back down.

"I can possess the king and see if there are any details he left out." Lindel offered.

"He's useless…our best chance was the paladin that is dead. Now we just have to wait it out. One of us is going to have to stay here and relay information to the party. The king's guards will detect something faster than we would. We can have Quinely take to the sky and she can verify the guard's information verified, but even she can't be everywhere at once. The king will know before we will. We need to win his confidence with us in battle as well as with his family." Jacklyn said.

"We can't fight them with these people around – exposing them to our powers would send their imaginations ablaze and panic would engulf them. If they weren't ruled by fear before then they sure would be once we attack and use our abilities." Lindel said in her mind as she gave the rest of the past to the queen. The queen said that was enough for now and Lindel agreed with her as she covered her up more and felt her forehead. The fear hadn't come back and her skin felt more real now versus the moist clammy skin she had before.

"Thank you…thank you so very much. I don't know who you are but this is the best I've felt in months." The queen said softly with a warm smile.

"I would say the worst is behind you but I can't. You still need rest and more medicine to build up your strength. Your body is still fighting an uphill battle but we are trying our best." Lindel said.

"Where is my king?" The queen asked.

"I am here my queen" the king said making his way quickly over to her bedside.

"Reward them greatly…this is the first time I can look at the man that I love and married with clear eyes. My mind has settled down and I do not suffer from the fever anymore." The queen said.

"We aren't interested in money." Skyka piped up.

"What caused my illness? Why was it so sudden?" The queen asked. Jacklyn, Lindel and Skyka all turned and glared at the king. He felt the weight of his kingdom on his shoulders and tried to think of something to say.

"Was it a curse? The plaque doesn't make somebody this sick so quickly." The queen said and started to drift off to sleep.

"Rest for now my lady, I will put your daughter to sleep as well. All will be answered in the morning but for now you need your rest." Skyka said and slowly closed her eyes.

"I will rest now then. Could you please close the windows? The draft is cooling my skin." Skyka looked at one of the queen's assistants and nodded.

"What is your name child?" The queen asked.

"A girl in the streets called me an angel, however that is only my day job – at night I tend to watch the stars and dream of a better world. My friends call me Lindel though." She said with a smile.

"The girl was right, you are an angel. Stay with us tonight?" The queen asked.

"Your walls have been breached and there are traitors among your people. We have work we have to do tonight that requires all of us to keep your people safe." Jacklyn said.

"What has happened while I was sick?" The queen asked with a renewed spirit.

"A man with a silver-tongue, who looked to be from a different kingdom far away from us, came with the promise of wealth and power. I took up his offer but it appears I have shaken hands with the devil; my very soul feels as though it has been drawn out of my body and tossed it into a deep well. What must I do to redeem myself? My kingdom, my family, my people – all set aside as false promises are waved under my nose and tingled my senses as if it were Lily-of-the-valley blossoming in the spring time with the fresh dew trickling off from it." The King said as he poetically explained how he screwed up. Jacklyn couldn't take anymore.

"Our friends are out looking for him as we speak and we need to join them. We will come back if we can to help you with your conditions, but for now you require sleep and we require sleep as well."

"Keep a chamber pot close by tonight and keep the food paste down in your stomach. Your wounds have shut and are healing, give her as much of this water here that was boiled – no other water. Do the same for your daughter if she awakens. We will be back but we must take our leave." Skyka said giving the last instructions.

"Do as you must, but I ask that you come back and help with my wife and my daughter." The king said.

"The women among you knows what to do, they have seen what I did during the day. I bid thee farewell." Skyka said and they left.

Herrior caught up with the rest of his party which was almost a full day's walk away from the kingdom. They were near a pond this time with frogs croaking and lightning flies illuminating the air briefly.

"Lindel said they are coming. The stupid king finally let them go. Where's Dan?" Herrior asked quietly as he took his place among their circle.

"Back at Tranquil. The crystal's power was completely drained. He's going back to infuse it with magic. Quinely is circling above and still is not finding the traitors. What's the plan?" Veliline asked.

"Wait. As far as the traitors know they are stuck in this world. With the power of the crystal drained they only have the power that they possess in their bodies. They will come back and seek a treaty with the gullible king." Herrior said as Lindel briefed him on the situation during his run.

"What about the other three crystals though? What about Thrall?" Julie asked.

"I wish to go after those that took me prisoner…however young human I do not belong in this world. The more I am away the more damage that is going to occur. My family of orcs will begin to lose sight of their goals. We must build our forces against the alliance or my people will fall." Thrall said.

Dan suddenly reappeared and walked up next to Thrall, "We found out where you were when you were taken. Tranquil has dispatched two parties to drive off your foes as I take you back. Your people are safe, but we must leave. Herrior – do we stay here and look for the traitors or help Thrall?"

"What do the scrolls foretell?" Herrior asked.

"Can't say…" Dan said nudging his head towards Thrall.

"It is better that the young one doesn't tell me. I will rally my troops and fight off any foe we face." Thrall said.

"What if you fall in combat?" Herrior asked.

"The winds of fate only know this information. I must insist that I go back with my people." Thrall said making his intent known.

"So be it. Dan take him back and bring our forces back to Tranquil. While you are there take a look around and make sure all is right. We will remain here and await the return of the rest of our group…" Herrior then heard an eagle cry out a single loud piercing scream. They all looked up and saw Quinely's beak facing a direction. Everybody turned to look in the direction and they saw some faint torches in the distance walking towards the kingdom.

"Get Thrall out of here…quickly!" Herrior said as he drew his weapons. Dan ran up to Thrall and bear hugged him and suddenly they vanished.

Dan and Thrall reappeared back in his time period. Dan let go of Thrall as he was faced with dozens of orcs looking at him with their weapons poised to strike.

"Lower your weapons my brothers. How is the construction of our new stronghold?" Thrall asked.

"We were attacked by alliance, just like that boy…who is he?"

"A friend" Thrall said and turned around to Dan "I have work I have to do here, thank you for your assistance. This land is not for the humans and you had better get back."

Dan nodded and said "I have some business I have to take care of first…build a fortress for the ages Thrall and my peace always guide your heart." Dan commanded the air around him to engulf him and then he flew into the air very quickly.

"Who was that human that can fly?" One of Thrall's orcs asked.

"When the scrolls are written about the events of our construction and battles, leave out the part of when I was captured and how I was returned. Hurry my brothers, we must fortify Ogrimmar!"

When Dan was sufficiently high enough he pulled out his hearthstone and contacted the leaders of the parties that were fighting back the alliance. It was a small rock that allowed communication via a small portal to all members of the Tranquil fighters. He said their mission had been accomplished and to return as soon as possible to the leaders. They acknowledged and Dan vanished from the world and returned back to the land Herrior was in.

Herrior had started the battle as he leapt into the air and crashed down on the blood elf and created a small rumble in the ground. His sword and shield made quick work of the hired thugs and then he mentally turned off his trinket to reveal his true form. The army that the blood elf had accumulated instantly panicked and then Herrior let out a war cry that caused a dozen of people to fall backwards and the rest to turn and run. Herrior chased after them as he gorged one a human on both of his horns sticking out of his head and swinging as fast as his arm would let him. The blood elf attempted to run off but a dark power grabbed him and pulled him to Veliline. She smiled briefly before she lowered her axe and held up her hand. The blood elf quickly grabbed his neck and tried to breathe as he was lifted off from the ground.

"Quinely, Trackolania and Skyka go help Herrior – Lindel…do your worst…" Jacklyn said and then pointed to the blood elf with one of her massive swords. Lindel's body dispersed into millions of tiny little lights that started to swirl in a circle as they approached the terrified blood elf. Lindel flew into the blood elf's eyes until every last light had vanished into his body. Veliline then let go of her magical grip on his throat as he fell hard on the ground.

"Julie summon spark, Mohania get your demon out – both of you take watch and make sure we aren't surprise attacked. Veliline you take lead." Jacklyn said and kicked dirt at the blood elf's head and then spat on his head. Veliline hold her hand out and a dark power slammed into the ground as a ghoul broke through the dirt and rose up to fight by her side.

"You've been a bad little blood elf haven't you?" Lindel's voice came out of the blood elf's mouth as his body wretched in pain and flailed around. Inside of the blood elf's brain Lindel searched his memories and recalled everything that had happened.

"The portal wasn't secured…each of the traitors used the power of the crystal as they spun out of control and established a route back out of the portal. The alliance had nothing to do with the stolen crystals – they just wanted to kill the previous king and queen. They didn't know how to recharge the crystals once their power was drained and they became corrupt. Going by his survival instincts he was going to raise an army and destroy many kingdoms until he found a person to cleanse the crystal to get its power back, even resort to dark magic. Thrall was linked to this crystal…don't know how, this dumbass doesn't know, but he was yanked out of his time when the blood elf came. The blood elf overpowered Thrall and took him captive. He doesn't know about the alliance paladin. This blood elf was just a scared little man this whole time. However I believe that should seal up this time." Lindel said still using her voice and moving the blood elf's mouth to talk.

"What has happened in this time line will mend itself…I can feel it… Order Herrior back – our work here is done." Dan said.

Chromie appeared and giggled and said "the boy speaks the truth…each crystal is attracted by magic. When this timeline was disrupted, it searched for a dominate power of this time, but a different world. Thrall has returned and so the crystal needs to be as well, for so long as Tranquil holds the crystals the worlds and time will continue to flow naturally". A rock suddenly sailed through Chromie's body and hit Jacklyn in the head.

"Ouch…" Jacklyn said upset and turned to look at Mohania.

"Silly undead…you can't hurt me…off I go!" Chromie said laughing and then vanished.

"I am going to kill that stupid little fairy!" Mohania said.

"I think she is on our side…no more rocks…" Jacklyn said glaring at Mohania and then pulled out her hearthstone to relay the information to Herrior.

Herrior received the message on his hearthstone and acknowledged it as he put away his hearthstone. Herrior looked up and saw that the rest of the army were still running with complete and utter terror in their eyes. Herrior put his weapons behind him, pulled the dead people off from his horns and tossed them aside. He gave the command to withdraw and minutes later they met up all together again.

"Where's the next crystal?" Herrior asked.

"Give me the crystal and I will take it back to Tranquil and see if I can find out. Jacklyn fill him in on what the traitor said, and then make sure there is nothing left of him for anybody to find." Dan said. Dan was given the crystal and then vanished back to Tranquil. Herrior was told what they found out and Herrior gave the sentence "destroy the traitor completely". Lindel made the blood elf's body explode into hundreds of different pieces and Mohania burned up what was left.

"He was a mage…" Lindel said rematerializing her body into her seductive form that she had chosen before.

"He's nothing but ashes now…the same as that stupid Chromie if she ever shows her face again!" Mohania made a fist and shouted.

"What do you have against her?" Herrior asked softly.

"Don't like little people that can fly…it's not natural." Mohania said.

"Mohania tried to throw a rock at her and it hit me in my helmet…" Jacklyn said casually.

"Leave the little person alone…let's get out of here, there is bound to be some soldiers to come this way eventually." Herrior said and they ran off.

The next morning Dan reappeared and told all of them to wake up. "I have the next location – our time in Italy. Anybody know how to speak Italian?"

"Language has never been a problem for us before, Lindel open a portal." Herrior said.


	8. 2-1

The party quickly arrived in a wooded area as they all activated their trinkets to change their form to that of the locals. Lindel closed the portal behind her and then they all looked around in the darkness to see if anybody had seen their arrival. Confident that nobody was around Herrior quietly asked "Where should we go?"

"Should we just lay low for tonight?" Dan asked.

"This city is full of so many voices…and I don't recognize any of their thoughts. I will need to possess one of them or get close enough to one for awhile until I can translate their language and then put the information into your heads." Lindel said sounding overwhelmed.

"Rosetta Stone apparently has nothing compared to you." Julie said smiling. Dan smirked. The others weren't sure what they were talking about.

"Who is the closest?" Herrior said.

"A couple due east – about forty feet, they seem to be sitting on an iron bench and looking into the night sky…sort of romantic…" Lindel said went from her serious tone to that of watching two people in love and went to a cheesy sounding voice.

"Give me a break…ok I'll kill the woman and rip out the man's tongue…" Mohania said but was pulled backwards by Lindel as he started towards them.

"Let the professional do this, the rest of you might want to disperse yourself and eventually close in and don't make a scene." Lindel said. She then cleared her throat and then slowly walked up the left side of them as the rest of the party spread out – except for Mohania.

Lindel walked close enough to start listening to their words. The man said something first.

"La notte è pieno di stelle, ma ciascuno di essi per la loro brillantezza è niente in confronto all'amore che sento per voi." The man waved at all of the stars and then looked at the woman and kissed her on the hand.

"Oh Bertrando, se non ho potuto prendere tutti i fiori nei giardini e scaricare le loro nettare che non dolce come si..." the woman said and waved at the woods behind her. She then saw Lindel who smiled at her and then looked in the direction she was looking at.

The lady smiled back at her and said "Ciao, non ho visto lei. Qual è il tuo nome? Il mio nome è Berenice e Bertrando" while pointing at herself and then the man.

Lindel hadn't expected to be part of the conversation yet and only knew some words…but not enough to make a sentence. "Hi, my name is Lindel…do you speak common?" Lindel said and knew that she choked.

"Comune?" the lady asked curious and turned to her lover as he shrugged and said "Inglese?"

"No…umm…" Lindel said as her face turned red and then smiled at them and slowly bit her lower lip. All three of them started to laugh and the couple waved her over. Lindel started to apologize and lost all concentration as the three of them laugh.

Mohania walked in front of them with a stern smile.

"Buongiorno!" the man said cheerfully. Mohania bowed towards the man and then bowed towards the woman while Lindel was glaring at him. Mohania then held up one hand pointed towards it with his other hand. He turned his hand back and forth so that they could see he was holding nothing. Both the man the woman nodded as Mohania closed his hand and moved his other hand over it and then opened it as he revealed a tiny bird in his hand. The couple clapped excitedly for a couple of seconds and then Mohania held up his hand for silence and brought up the bird to his ear and made it chirp twice in his ear. Mohania nodded and then held out his hands as the bird moved up Mohania's loose sleeve. A figure that looked like the bird bounced up his sleeve, across his back (Mohania bent over to show them) and then as it started down his other sleeve Mohania reached into his sleeve and pulled out a dozen roses in a bouquet. The shocked couple stood up and applauded as Mohania gave the flowers to the woman. Lindel tried to get inside of Mohania's mind but he wasn't responding, so she played along with the act.

Mohania then smiled and backed up a couple of feet and then pointed to the man and then made himself look like he was thinking of something. Suddenly he appeared to have an idea as he expressed it with body language. The couple sat back down and was eager to see what the mysterious magician had in mind. Lindel was equally as curious, only she wasn't sure if this was going to end up in a blood bath or what Mohania was trying to do. The rest of the party casually watched from a distance and smiled.

Mohania reached into his front pocket where a hanky was and gently pulled it out but it was tied to another handkerchief. Mohania looked at it surprised and then pointed at it. The couple chuckled as Mohania continued to pull out a dozen handkerchief's but suddenly there appeared to be a large pair of underwear at the end. Mohania pulled it out and quickly threw it on the ground in shock. The couple laughed and clapped for him. Mohania picked up the underwear and pointed to it and then pointed to the woman.

"N." the woman answered laughing. Mohania then pointed to the underwear and slowly peered at the man and pointed to the man. The man laughed and said "N." over and over as his girlfriend tried to pull his pants back to check.

Mohania then showed a really worried face after they were done playing and then slowly looked down at his pants. He pulled them out a little and quickly shut them as his face turned dark red with embarrassment and quickly shoved the underwear into his pants pocket. The couple exploded with laughter. By now there was a crowd that had begun to gather and started laughing with the couple.

"Più! Più trucchi!" The man said between laughing. Mohania smiled and bowed his head. He pulled out a deck of playing cards and began to shuffle them. He then pointed to the man and then to the deck. Mohania shut his eyes and looked away. The man looked at his card and then showed it to his lady friend. It was the ten of hearts. Mohania then motioned the man to show the crowd as he put the deck back together and closed his eyes and turned around with his right hand going over his eyes. The man showed it around and the crowd nodded. The man then tapped on Mohania's shoulder and gave him his card back. Mohania then shook his hands out in preparation and then held out the cut deck and the man put the card in. Mohania then quickly shuffled the cards so that everybody could see him shuffling them without him looking at the cards. He then stopped and then held up a finger and held the deck with the other hand. He then held out both arms and seemed to concentrate. He then launched the cards into the air as they flew over his head and all of them landed face down on the ground except for one card. Mohania then opened his eyes and held up the card.

"Sì!" the man said and everybody clapped. Mohania then knelt down and held up another ten of hearts. The crowd caught onto his trick and pointed to the card. Mohania shook his head and held up another ten of hearts. The crowd then started picking up all of the cards and they were all the ten of hearts. Mohania started to laugh and it made everybody else laugh as well. Mohania stood up and held out his hand upside down and all of the cards went flying up into his hand until the very last card was gone and then put the deck away in his pocket and bowed.

"Nice try…but it held our attention. You are quite the magician and stage performer, do you do this professionally?" The man asked. Lindel had finally translated their language into common.

"No my good man…everybody I audition for thinks I'm stealing their underwear…" Mohania said smiling. The couple began to laugh again.

"I'm afraid the show is over now…my friends and I need to find accommodations for tonight. There is a chill in the air and I do not wish to become sick." Mohania said.

"Stay with us, I insist!" The man said.

"No we couldn't…"

"No no…I insist, bring your friends and my wife and I will feed you. Come with us, but don't steal any of my underwear…" the man said smiling.

"Do more tricks!" a boy shouted in the crowd.

"It is late and my magical power needs to recharge…perhaps tomorrow I could show some more of my tricks?" Mohania asked and then looked at the friendly couple and then Lindel.

"We would be delighted! Our house is just a couple of blocks away from us…come before the people make you do more magic…and drain more of your 'magical powers'." Bertrando said.

"Yes come…we have some fine wine and cheese that you would love." Berenice said and held out her arm to Mohania. Mohania gently put his hand on her arm as the other man wrapped his arm around his other arm and they began to lead him away. The rest of the party came up and introduced themselves and away they went to their apartment.

Bertrando and Berenice talked the whole way as Mohania talked back and the three of them laughed. The rest of the party were bewildered at the situation and weren't sure if they needed to say anything or restrain Mohania. They finally arrived at the condo; it was huge compared to the other buildings that were all squeezed together along the road.

"Ah my good friend we are home at last, so what do you think?" Bertrando asked.

"If the other houses were compared to this – your home would be the Taj Mahal…my new friends this is beautiful – do you do the porch yourself?" Mohania asked.

"Yes in fact we did it cost us around two thousand Euros." Bertrando said.

"It is beautiful…look at these engravings and the small intricate detail, and the grains are all flowing evenly…this belongs in a museum, I am going to take this and go put it in one…" Mohania said as he feeling the wood and looking at it closely.

"Hardly think that…"

"No no my friend, this is art! I have seen some good art in my day but I have never seen anything like this. Are you jostling with me? Did you really do it yourselves?" Mohania asked.

The couple laughed and led the party into the house as they showed off their other wood creations to Mohania. Herrior motioned for his party to assemble on the living room floor.

"Oh you don't need to sit on our dingy rugs, let me get some chairs." Berenice offered.

"This is fine ma'am, I appreciate the offer though." Herrior said with a smile. Mohania said the accommodations were more than sufficient and continued to ask about their other pieces of art.

"My friend you tire us out, it is the middle of the night – aren't you worn out?" Bertrando asked.

"I am…but being in the presence of your company and that of a superior artist…I doubt if I would be able to catch two winks tonight." Mohania said.

"You flatter us…but we must turn in for the night, I have a young woman that needs some attention…" Bertrando said and pinched Berenice's butt. She screamed and swatted him away "you keep that up and you'll be sleeping under the porch tonight…and no stealing our art gallery while we are away." Berenice said looking at Mohania.

"I cannot make any promises…" Mohania said and put his hand over his heart with a straight face held high. A couple of seconds later the three of them burst into laughter and they said their good nights. Mohania admired a couple more pieces for awhile longer.

"I didn't know you had an eye for…anything…" Lindel asked. Mohania quickly held up his finger to stop them from talking as he said "This isn't anything my good lady…this is exquisite! The wood inlays, the flow of the wood, the intricate designs…I could spend a year trying to duplicate this and I would fall short. These people have a steadier hand than I and an eye for the delicate work." Mohania put his finger down and casually turned his head. He heard some giggling then listened to them merrily prance off as they closed several doors behind them.

"Couldn't you play along even in the slightest? Miss 'let the professional do it' – nothing like tripping over your dress or constantly stepping on your dates feet the entire night! Did any of you hear what happened? Was I the only one that picked up on our next clue? Or did all of you zone out picking the dingle berries out of your ass? I thought we were a party? A team? Where was my support?" Mohania asked completely flustered and throwing his hands up into the air.

"You are right of course Mohania – all of us should have been more supportive. Lindel will apologize for her failed attempt, and the rest of us will apologize for not giving you more support." Herrior said and everybody gave a round of apologies.

"So…nobody heard about Bertrando talking about the 'man-cow' falling from the skies? Landed on his head, snapped off his horns and snapped his neck as well? Any of this rings a bell with any of you?" Mohania asked.

"No? Where at?" Herrior asked standing up.

Mohania sighed and rolled his eyes. "I didn't get that information and I didn't want to pry into the subject too much before I secured a friendship with them. They said it was on the news in the papers. I figure short-stack can go steal a couple of papers and see what they say." Trackolania flicked off Mohania.

"Maybe later…we can't leave tonight though, we have to stay here for the night…does anybody know why or should I revisit my conversion with them on the way here?" Mohania asked.

"You've got the lead on this one, time to get some rest everybody." Herrior said. Everybody left the circle and went to find a piece of carpet to snuggle up with. Julie settled down and Trackolania stepped over her and laid down next to her. Julie moved over and snuggled up with him. They had started a relationship but they never had the time to develop it. This was the first time that Trackolania had showed interest in her again. Julie wasn't sure how she felt about this renewed interest but she welcomed it tonight.

The night passed and morning came late. Their hosts had prepared breakfast for them but the party slept through the morning and into lunch. Lindel was the first to awake.

"Good morning hun…you are your friends were tired. My hubby left for the office and I need to run some errands. When all of you wake up could you show them where the food is?" Berenice asked.

"Oh…no no, I can wake everyone…" Lindel said.

"No that isn't necessary…get some more sleep lass, I will be right back." Berenice said smiling and walked around them, eventually making it to the front door and left.

Lindel looked around at her party and wondered why they had slept so long. She quickly read their thoughts and they were dreaming. She didn't detect any poisons or any magic in the air so she let them sleep. She thought for awhile and realized that they haven't had a good night's sleep in a long time. Lindel thought this would be a good chance to look for any papers that indicated the tauren that arrived in this area.

She walked into the kitchen and picked up a bagel and started casually looking around. They had some very nice looking paintings also well as different knickknacks in cabinets and shelves on the wall. Not one of these pieces had a speck of dust on any of them as she rubbed her finger over several of them. Taking a bite of her bagel she turned her attention to another room and started to walk towards it. The television was on still but the volume was turned down. Some sort of singing show was on but it didn't it didn't interest her. She looked through several different pieces of mail before losing her interest. There was no sign of the tauren. She sat down at the table and took another bite of her bagel.

An idea sprung to her mind and she closed her eyes and outstretched her feelings. She began to hear the local voices in her mind. There was nothing of any importance that came to her mind.

Mohania had woken up and looked around about an hour later. He looked out the window and saw it was past midday. "Oops…hey wake up people!" Mohania said and started shaking everybody awake.

"Is it morning already?" Julie asked rolling over.

"More like almost evening…" Mohania said.

"Say what?" Jacklyn said sounding concerned as she looked out the window.

"Hey guys!" Lindel said cheerfully walking into the room.

"Why didn't you wake us Lindel?" Herrior asked.

"Berenice said to let you sleep…besides when was the last time you had a chance to sleep?" Lindel asked.

"That's no excuse; I will go secure the perimeter." Jacklyn said.

"Nothing is going on around here, I've been scanning everybody's minds that comes and goes and none of them know anything. I had a small hint that our hosts have something in mind for us as they left – act surprised when they come back. I didn't sense any ill intentions from them." Lindel said.

"What should we do then?" Herrior asked turning from Lindel and walking over to the window looking out.

"I don't like just waiting around…let's hit the streets." Jacklyn said.

"Don't know…you take the lead on this one Lindel." Herrior said.

"I don't see what it would hurt for some of us to take a walk. Our hosts can't expect to keep all of us in the house until they arrive back home. Mohania and I should stay to speak with them if they return." Lindel said.

"Or we could have you go along and I could rest in peace." Mohania said.

"Technically you are already there…" Lindel said glancing away from him "I can contact you using telepathy if something happens or we don't have access to our hearthstones."

"We'll split up then. We need information and we have limited time. Meet back here when the moon is full. Fill your bellies first and then head out." Herrior said. Trackolania ran over, grabbed a bagel and vanished when suddenly a window quickly opened and shut.

"He isn't a morning person…" Skyka smiled as she glanced over the selections. "So…how did things go last night Julie?"

"We need to start bringing pillows with us…other than that not bad." Julie said stuffing her face.

"No connections were made…no feelings were exchanged...no touchy touchy?" Lindel asked.

"Mohania do you know what they are talking about?" Julie asked.

"They're idiots, they want to know if anything happened between you and Trackolania? I think we have better things to do in my opinion." Mohania said.

"We do have better things to do. Get your food and and get going. What happens between them two is none of your business." Herrior said. That was the end of that conversation as everybody got their fill and left.


End file.
